glob

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɡlɑb/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɡlɒb/
• Rhymes: -ɑb, -ɒb

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Possibly a blend of blob +‎ gob or a clipping of globule. An element of sound symbolism is clearly involved: compare such phonetically and semantically similar words as glop, gop, blob, clump and clod. (Still, globe, clump and clod may be related via the Proto-Indo-European root *gel-; compare clew.)

In the biological sense, proposed by Bevil R. Conway and Doris Y. Tsao, by analogy with the cytochrome-oxidase "blobs" of V1, an earlier stage in the hierarchical elaboration of colour. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

glob (plural globs)

1. A round, shapeless or amorphous lump, as of a semisolid substance.

   He put a glob of paint into the cup and went on painting.

2. (biology) A millimeter-sized colour module found beyond the visual area V2 in the brain's parvocellular pathway.

glob (third-person singular simple present globs, present participle globbing, simple past and past participle globbed)

1. To stick in globs or lumps.
   • 2024, Mimi Matthews, The Muse of Maiden Lane, page 58:

     paint globbed on the canvas, marring the careful shadowing he'd created on the snowbank. It was an amateurish mistake, completely unworthy of an artist of Teddy's skill.

Originates from the early (c. 1970) Unix command glob; short for global.

glob (plural globs)

1. (programming) A limited pattern matching technique using wildcards, less powerful than a regular expression.

glob (third-person singular simple present globs, present participle globbing, simple past and past participle globbed)

1. (programming) To carry out pattern matching using a glob.

• Glob (programming) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “glob”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

• Blog, GLBO, LGBO, blog

From English globe, from late Middle English globe, from Middle French globe, from Old French globe, from Latin globus.

• IPA^(key):
• Rhymes: -op
• Hyphenation: glob

glob (Jawi spelling ݢلوب)

1. A globe (spherical model of Earth).

• “glob” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

Polish Wikipedia has an article on:

glob

Wikipedia ^pl

Borrowed from French globe. Doublet of globus.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡlɔp/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔp
• Syllabification: glob

glob m inan (related adjective globowy)

1. (countable, astronomy) globe, planet (large celestial body belonging to a planetary system)

   Synonym: planeta

   Hypernym: ciało niebieskie

2. (uncountable) globe (planet on which people live; Earth in reference only to the planet without its gaseous envelope)

   Synonym: ziemia

   Hypernym: planeta

• glob in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• glob in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• glob in PWN's encyclopedia

Borrowed from French globe, from Latin globus.

glob n (plural globuri)

1. globe (all senses)

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

glob c

1. a globe

• global
• jordglob
• Globen = Stockholm Globe Arena