Dictionary

corb en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈkɔː(ɹ)b/

Etymology

From Latin corbis (“basket”).

Meanings

1. (archaic) A basket, for example one used in coal mines, etc.
   • Some bore amain The death-vat, some the corbs of hallowed grain 1913, Gilbert Murray (translator), Euripides (original), Electra:
   • He said no more, but signed to me to lift a heavy wooden corb with an iron loop across it, and sunk in a little pit of earth, a yard or so from the mouth of the shaft. I raised it, and by his direction dropped it into the throat of the shaft, where it hung and shook from a great cross-beam laid at the level of the earth. A very stout thick rope was fastened to the handle of the corb, and ran across a pulley hanging from the centre of the beam, and thence out of sight in the nether places. 1869, R[ichard] D[oddridge] Blackmore, Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Sampson Low, Son, & Marston, […], →OCLC:
   • I[…] carried my corb of fagots home on my back, while my two youngsters had each their bundle on their little shoulders too 1863, Henry Mayhew, The Boyhood of Martin Luther:
2. (obsolete) a corbel (ornament in a building).
3. A brown meagre (Sciaena umbra)

Forms

Synonyms

corf