Cobbing
noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 an unofficial form of punishment among the crew or prisoners involving blows to the buttocks from a piece of wood or a handsaw. countable, uncountable
"Previous to the infliction of cobbing, or booting, the delinquent is fairly tried by a court, consisting of–a president, the oldest soldier; members, next two oldest soldiers, youngest soldier, next youngest soldier."
- 2 The manual separation of minerals in ore using a hammer. countable, uncountable
"It is, therefore, always so arranged that the dressing progresses gradually through all the operations, beginning in the mine and ending with the cobbing, or, as the case may be. with the concentration."
- 3 The production of cobs. countable, uncountable
"In America, Canada, and Central Europe, for example, snow lies feet deep on the ground in the winter, and the summers are sufficiently hot to enable maize to be grown successfully for cobbing,"
- 1 present participle and gerund of cob form-of, gerund, participle, present
Example
More examples"Previous to the infliction of cobbing, or booting, the delinquent is fairly tried by a court, consisting of–a president, the oldest soldier; members, next two oldest soldiers, youngest soldier, next youngest soldier."
Etymology
From cob + -ing.
Related phrases
More for "cobbing"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.