cobble

See also: Cobble and coble

English

Etymology 1

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.

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒbəl

Noun

cobble (plural cobbles)

1. A cobblestone.
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.

Derived terms

• cobbly

 

Translations

cobblestone — see cobblestone

Verb

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.

Derived terms

• cobble together
• cobble up
• recobble

 

Translations

to make shoes

• Bulgarian: кърпя обуща (kǎrpja obušta)
• Catalan: adobar (ca)
• Finnish: tehdä kenkiä
• German: schustern (de)
• Manx: whaal
• Portuguese: fazer sapato
• Spanish: zapatero (es)
• Welsh: crydda

to assemble in an improvised manner

• Bulgarian: правя нещо как да е (pravja nešto kak da e)
• Catalan: apedaçar (ca)
• Czech: flikovat impf, sflikovat pf, opravit (cs) pf
• Dutch: ineen knutselen (nl)
• Finnish: kursia kasaan
• German: schustern (de)
• Lithuanian: kurpti
• Portuguese: improvisar (pt)
• Russian: топорно (ru) (toporno) собира́ть (ru) (sobirátʹ)
• Spanish: ensamblar (es)

to use cobblestones for paving

• Catalan: empedrar (ca)
• Czech: dláždit (cs)
• Finnish: kivetä mukulakivillä, mukulakivetä
• Russian: мостить (ru) (mostitʹ)
• Spanish: empedrar (es)

Etymology 2

See coble.

Noun

cobble (plural cobbles)

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