mob

See also: MOB, Mob, and -mob

Translingual

Etymology

Abbreviation of English Moinba.

Symbol

mob

  1. (international standards, obsolete) Former ISO 639-3 language code for Moinba.

English

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: mŏb, IPA(key): /mɒb/
  • (General American) enPR: mŏb, IPA(key): /mɑb/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɒb

Etymology 1

From Middle English mob, short for mobile, from Latin mōbile (vulgus) (“fickle (crowd)”).

Noun

mob (plural mobs)

  2. A large or disorderly group of people; especially one bent on riotous or destructive action.
    • February 13, 1788, James Madison, Jr., Federalist No. 55
      Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.
    See also: Mob (the masses)
  4. (archaic) The lower classes of a community; the rabble.
    • 1715 June 1 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 44. Saturday, May 21. [1715.]”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], published 1721, →OCLC:
      A cluster of mob, who were making themselves merry with their betters.
  6. (collective) A group of animals of any kind.
    Coordinate term: herd
    2. A group of kangaroos.
      • 2004, Louise Spilsbury, Richard Spilsbury, A Mob of Kangaroos‎[3], Heinemann Library, page 9:
        The leader of a mob of kangaroos is the strongest and usually the largest male in the group.
    3. (by extension) A group of any marsupial.
      • 2024, Tylissa Elisara, Wurrtoo: The Wombat Who Fell in Love with the Sky‎[4], Hachette Australia:
        There must be a whole mob of wombats living in here!
      • 1931, Bulletin‎[5], New York Zoological Society, page 34:
        Sex difference in size is so marked, that one familiar with the animals, can easily pick out the males in a mob when some distance away.
        refers to wallabies
    5. A group of emus.
      Coordinate term: flock
      • 1886, Percy Clarke, The "new Chum" in Australia, Or, The Scenery, Life, and Manners of Australians in Town and Country‎[6], page 218:
        Without a second's delay another great rushing comes nearer. "By Jove! a mob of emus," says the old hunter.
      • 2015, Doug Geeting, Running with the Mob: Stories About the Emus on the Farm‎[7]:
        In the gated area nearest the barn and the pond, there were goats and sheep, llamas and ponies, and a mob of emus.
      • 1925, Joseph Bowes, The Fur-hunters in Australian Wilds‎[8], Humphrey Milford:
        Not even Wellington's horse rode with greater precipitancy upon Napoleon's troops at Waterloo than Dick advanced upon the mob of emus.
  8. A mafia: a group that engages in organized crime.
    • 1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 01:
      The Bat—they called him the Bat. […]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.
    • 1979, P. K. Jensen, “The Greco-Turkish war, 1920–1922”, in International Journal of Middle East Studies, volume 10, number 4, Cambridge University Press, →DOI, page 563:
      The Greeks, displaying a characteristic often a mark of defeated armies, pursued a 'scorched earth' policy toward western Anatolia... The Turkish population was subjected to horrible atrocities by the retreating troops and accompanying civilian Christian mobs.
    • 1986, Paul Chadwick, Concrete: Under the Desert Stars, Dark Horse Books:
      What if it is a mob killing? They can’t hurt me, but …
    See also: Mob, Mafia (proper noun senses for specific ones)
  10. (Australian Aboriginal) A group of Aboriginal people associated with an extended family group, clan group or wider community group, from a particular place or country.[1]
    • 2011 March 10, Allan Clarke, “W.A. through Noongar eyes”, in sbs.com.au‎[9]:
      There’s nothing like local knowledge and after thousands of years living here the Noongar mob understand this land better than anyone, so it makes sense for them to tap into the lucrative tourism industry.
    • 2021 November 7, Claire [G.] Coleman, “Not quite blak enough: ‘The people who think I am too white to be Aboriginal are all white’”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎[10], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC:
      There’s a saying among blak mob, ‘It doesn’t matter how much milk you put in tea, it’s still tea.’ I am a descendant of genocide survivors, a child of the oldest living culture on Earth. Nothing, no amount of milk, can change that.
      (Can we archive this URL?)
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

mob (third-person singular simple present mobs, present participle mobbing, simple past and past participle mobbed)

  1. (transitive) To crowd around (someone), sometimes with hostility.
    The fans mobbed a well-dressed couple who resembled their idols.
    • 2017 June 26, Alexis Petridis, “Glastonbury 2017 verdict: Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Lorde, Stormzy and more”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎[11], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 12 October 2026:
      Politicians have been turning up to Glastonbury for years, but this year the leader of the opposition was among the most hotly anticipated attractions: when he arrived on site, his Land Rover was mobbed by fans.
  2. (transitive) To crowd into or around a place.
    The shoppers mobbed the store on the first day of the sale.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

Alteration of mab.

Noun

mob (plural mobs)

  1. (obsolete) A promiscuous woman; a harlot or wench; a prostitute. [17th–18th c.]
  2. A mob cap.
    • c. 1773-1774, Oliver Goldsmith, letter to Mrs Bunbury
      cover their faces with mobs
Derived terms

Verb

mob (third-person singular simple present mobs, present participle mobbing, simple past and past participle mobbed)

  1. (transitive) To wrap up in, or cover with, a cowl.

Etymology 3

Clipping of mobile. In the video-gaming sense, from mobile as a clipping of mobile object, the term Richard Bartle used for self-moving entities in MUD1 (1978);[2][3] the further shortening to mob appears in the DikuMUD source code (1991).[4] The expansion man or beast is a backronym.

Noun

mob (plural mobs)

  1. Abbreviation of mobile phone.
    Synonym: cell
  3. (video games) A creature or non-player character, especially one meant to be fought or killed.
    Synonym: mobile
    • 1999, Natalia, “Female Characters”, in GameCommandos‎[12]:
      Instead of fighting the mobs myself someone led me around to "help" me level; […]
    • 2002, Wolfie, “Re: Whoa - massive changes due in next patch”, in alt.games.everquest (Usenet):
      You can't win with small, balanced groups. You have to zerg the mob with a high number of players.
  4. (chiefly Japanese fiction) A background character in general.
Usage notes
  • (mobile phone): This is most often used in signwriting to match with the other three-letter abbreviations tel (“telephone”) and fax (“facsimile”).
  • (video game character): This was rare outside the multi-user dungeon genre until 2009, when it was popularized by Minecraft developer Markus Persson. He may have been familiar with MUD terminology from his work on Wurm Online.
See also

Further reading

References

  1. ^ https://www.deadlystory.com/page/tools/aboriginal-cultural-support-planning/cultural-planning---frequently-asked-questions/what-is-the-difference-between-mob-clan-tribe-language-group
  2. ^ Richard Bartle (2003), Designing Virtual Worlds, New Riders, →ISBN, page 102
  3. ^ Richard Bartle (11 October 2026 (last accessed)), “Why “mobiles”?”, in Richard A. Bartle: Anecdotes, Set 3‎[1]
  4. ^ “mobact.c, Mobile action module”, in DikuMUD Alfa‎[2], 1991

Anagrams

Danish

Verb

mob

  1. imperative of mobbe

French

Etymology

    Clipping of mobylette.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    mob f (plural mobs)

    1. (colloquial) scooter, moped

    Further reading

    Indonesian

    Etymology

    Borrowed from English mob, from Middle English mob, short for mobile, from Latin mōbile (vulgus) (“fickle (crowd)”).

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    mob (plural mob-mob)

    1. (politics) mob: a large or disorderly group of people; especially one bent on riotous or destructive action

    Further reading

    Spanish

    Etymology

      Borrowed from English mob.

      Pronunciation

      • IPA(key): /ˈmob/ [ˈmoβ̞]
      • Rhymes: -ob
      • Syllabification: mob

      Noun

      mob m (plural mobs)

      1. (Minecraft, video games) mob, creature
        Near-synonym: criatura
        Hypernym: entidad (“Minecraft entity”)

      Volapük

      Pronunciation

      • IPA(key): /mob/

      Noun

      mob (genitive moba, plural mobs)

      1. suggestion

      Declension

      Declension of mob
      Singular Plural
      Nominative mob mobs
      Genitive moba mobas
      Dative mobe mobes
      Accusative mobi mobis
      Predicative1 mobu mobus
      Vocative o mob o mobs
      1. Introduced in Volapük Nulik.

      Derived terms

      • mobön

      White Hmong

      Etymology

      From Proto-Hmong-Mien *ʔmun (“illness, pain”). Cognate with Iu Mien mun.

      Pronunciation

      • IPA(key): /mɒ˥/

      Verb

      mob

      1. to be ill/sick; to hurt; to be unwell

      References

      • Ernest E. Heimbach, White Hmong - English Dictionary (1979, SEAP Publications)
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