cobble

From Middle English cobill, kobill (used in various combinations with ston, stan (“stone”), note, nutt (“nut”), etc.), probably a diminutive of Middle English *cob, *cobb, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kubb- (“lump; round object”). Equivalent to cob +‎ -le.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑb.l̩/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒb.əl/

• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -ɒbəl

cobble (plural cobbles)

1. A cobblestone.
   • 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 150:

     The narrow streets that twist and turn through the compact heart of Dent are surfaced with cobbles which, in the absence of pavements, spread right across from doorstep to doorstep.

2. (geology) A particle from 64 to 256 mm in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.
3. (manufacturing) A piece of steel that becomes malformed during its manufacture or rolling.
   • 1913, Report on Conditions of Employment in the Iron and Steel Industry in the United States, United States Bureau of Labor:

     These men are located near the rolls in a pulpit, which is usually completely inclosed with heavy close-meshed netting or boiler plate, so that if a cobble occurs they will be protected from the rods which fly in all directions on such occasions.

   • 1915, Proceedings of Association of Iron & Steel Electrical:

     The ideal control which they offer the reversing motor is such, when a cobble might be made in the steel mill, the metal can be handled gently, and very often the ingot saved.

   • 1919 April, “Rolling Mill Research Laboratory Founded”, in Blast Furnace and Steel Plant, volume 7:

     In practical mill work a roller often has to wait days and sometimes weeks before he can catch this condition, as he could not consider the stopping of production while he made a cobble in some particular roll pass that was giving him trouble, and it is mainly by studying the cobbles that the action of the steel can be observed and studied.

   • 2009, Vladimir B. Ginzburg, Flat-Rolled Steel Processes: Advanced Technologies, page 231:

     Cameras pointed between stands could be saved for 5 or 7 days, enough to troubleshoot cobble or off-level mills.

cobble (third-person singular simple present cobbles, present participle cobbling, simple past and past participle cobbled)

1. (intransitive) To make shoes (what a cobbler does).
2. (transitive) To assemble in an improvised way.

   I cobbled something together to get us through till morning.

3. (transitive, intransitive) To use cobblestones to pave a road, walkway, etc.

See coble.

cobble (plural cobbles)

1. Alternative form of coble (“a kind of fishing-boat”)