job lot

English

Etymology

Early 19th century. From job +‎ lot (“one or more items auctioned or sold as a unit”). The first part is possibly from Middle English gobbe (“mass, lump”).

Noun

job lot (plural job lots)

1. A large quantity of cheap items.
2. A quantity of miscellaneous items sold together.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:hodgepodge

Quotations

• “‘We purchased a job lot,’ explained the sergeant.”

- Quoted in Jonson, Ron. The Men Who Stare At Goats Simon & Schuster, New York, 2004, p. 129

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “job”, in Online Etymology Dictionary, retrieved 10 December 2024: “Job lot (1832) is from an obsolete sense of 'cartload, lump,' which might be a separate formation from gob.”