n. [ Cf. AS. cop, copp, head, top, D. kop, G. kopf, kuppe, LL. cuppa cup (cf. E. brainpan), and also W. cob tuft, spider, cop, copa, top, summit, cobio to thump. Cf. Cop top, Cup, n. ] 1. The top or head of anything. [ Obs. ] W. Gifford. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A leader or chief; a conspicuous person, esp. a rich covetous person. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

All cobbing country chuffs, which make their bellies and their bags their god, are called rich cobs. Nash. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The axis on which the kernels of maize or indian corn grow. [ U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Zool.) A spider; perhaps from its shape; it being round like a head. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Zool.) A young herring. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Zool.) A fish; -- also called miller's thumb. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A short-legged and stout horse, esp. one used for the saddle. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Zool.) A sea mew or gull; esp., the black-backed gull (Larus marinus). [ Written also cobb. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

9. A lump or piece of anything, usually of a somewhat large size, as of coal, or stone. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. A cobnut; as, Kentish cobs. See Cobnut. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

11. Clay mixed with straw. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The poor cottager contenteth himself with cob for his walls, and thatch for his covering. R. Carew. [ 1913 Webster ]

12. A punishment consisting of blows inflictod on tho buttocas with a strap or a flat piece of wood. Wright. [ 1913 Webster ]

13. A Spanish coin formerly current in Ireland, worth abiut 4s. 6d. [ Obs. ] Wright. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cob coal, coal in rounded lumps from the size of an egg to that of a football; -- called also cobbles. Grose. --
Cob loaf, a crusty, uneven loaf, rounded at top. Wright. --
Cob money, a kind of rudely coined gold and silver money of Spanish South America in the eighteenth century. The coins were of the weight of the piece of eight, or one of its aliquot parts. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Cobbed p. pr. & vb. n. Cobbing. ] 1. To strike [ Prov. Eng. ] Halliwell. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mining) To break into small pieces, as ore, so as to sort out its better portions. Raymond. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Naut.) To punish by striking on the buttocks with a strap, a flat piece of wood, or the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. [ Named after D. Cobo, a Spanish botanist. ] A genus of climbing plants, native of Mexico and South America. Cobaea scandens (called cup-and-saucer vine, monastery bells, or Mexican ivy) is a conservatory climber with large bell-shaped flowers. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ G. kobalt, prob. fr. kobold, kobel, goblin, MHG. kobolt; perh. akin to G. koben pigsty, hut, AS. cofa room, cofgodas household gods, Icel. kofi hut. If so, the ending -old stands for older -walt, -wald, being the same as -ald in E. herald and the word would mean ruler or governor in a house, house spirit, the metal being so called by miners, because it was poisonous and troublesome. Cf. Kobold, Cove, Goblin. ] 1. (Chem.) A tough, lustrous, reddish white metal of the iron group, not easily fusible, and somewhat magnetic. Atomic weight 59.1. Symbol Co. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ It occurs in nature in combination with arsenic, sulphur, and oxygen, and is obtained from its ores, smaltite, cobaltite, asbolite, etc. Its oxide colors glass or any flux, as borax, a fine blue, and is used in the manufacture of smalt. It is frequently associated with nickel, and both are characteristic ingredients of meteoric iron. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A commercial name of a crude arsenic used as fly poison. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cobalt bloom. Same as Erythrite. --
Cobalt blue, a dark blue pigment consisting of some salt of cobalt, as the phosphate, ignited with alumina; -- called also cobalt ultramarine, and Thenard's blue. --
Cobalt crust, earthy arseniate of cobalt. --
Cobalt glance. (Min.) See Cobaltite. --
Cobalt green, a pigment consisting essentially of the oxides of cobalt and zinc; -- called also Rinman's green. --
Cobalt yellow (Chem.), a yellow crystalline powder, regarded as a double nitrite of cobalt and potassium. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. cobaltique. ] (Chem.) Pertaining to, derived from, or containing, cobalt; -- said especially of those compounds in which cobalt has higher valence; as, cobaltic oxide. [ 1913 Webster ]

Luteo-cobaltic compounds (Chem.), an extensive series of complex yellow compounds of ammonia and cobaltic salts. --
Roseo-cobaltic compounds (Chem.), an extensive series of complex red compounds of cobalt and ammonia. Modifications of these are the purpureo-cobaltic compounds. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cobalt + -ferous. ] (Min.) Containing cobalt. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ n. (Min.) A mineral of a nearly silver-white color, composed of arsenic, sulphur, and cobalt. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Chem.) Pertaining to, derived from, or containing, cobalt; -- said esp. of cobalt compounds in which the metal has its lower valence. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cobaltous chloride, a crystalline compound, CoCl2, of a pale rose color when hydrous, blue when dehydrated. Its solution is used for a sympathetic ink, the writing being nearly colorless when dried in the air, owing to absorbed moisture, and becoming bright blue when warmed. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Haughty; purse-proud. See Cob, n., 2. [ Obs. ] Withals (1608). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Cob a lump. See Cob, n., 9, and cf. Copple, Copplestone. ] 1. A cobblestone. “Their slings held cobbles round.” Fairfax. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. pl. Cob coal. See under Cob. [ 1913 Webster ]