First attested late 16th c. in the sense "allow or cause to dangle, hang," from sense 2.
Meanings
A pass or stroke which arcs high into the air.
The guard launched a desperate lob over the outstretched arms of the defender.
Peter Lovenkrands went close for the Magpies, hitting the bar with a fine lob after he had been played in by the excellent Jose Enrique on the left. 2011 February 12, Nabil Hassan, “Blackburn 0 - 0 Newcastle”, in BBC:
fi kaaripallo (high-arcing pass or stroke) · de Lob (high-arcing pass or stroke) · sv lobb (high-arcing pass or stroke) · ca globus (high-arcing pass or stroke) · mk лоб (high-arcing pass or stroke) · mk у́дар (high-arcing pass or stroke) · fi kaari (high-arcing pass or stroke) · fr lob (high-arcing pass or stroke) · ru свеча (high-arcing pass or stroke) · it pallonetto (high-arcing pass or stroke) · es globo (high-arcing pass or stroke)
First attested late 16th c. in the sense "allow or cause to dangle, hang," from sense 2.
Meanings
(transitive) To throw or hit a ball into the air in a high arc.
The guard lobbed a pass just over the defender.
The tennis player lobbed the ball, which was a costly mistake.
(colloquial, transitive) To throw.
I'm sure the Brunel-designed stone-built structure would have had a hatstand for his trademark stovepipe. I can picture him rocking up there of a morning and lobbing it nonchalantly onto the hatstand. 2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Chippenham (1841)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 57:
In the months leading up to the election, government representatives took up a cybercrime case against Thanathorn for criticising the government on a Facebook Live video... They also lobbed more legal cases at his party for allegedly spreading false information. 2019 April 6, Caleb Quinley, “Thailand: Anti-military party leader faces sedition charges”, in Al Jazeera, Doha: Al Jazeera, retrieved 06 Apr 2019:
(colloquial, transitive) To put, place.
Lob the bacon in the pot.
(transitive) To hit, kick, or throw a ball over another player in a game.
Wigan took the lead when Hugo Rodallega lobbed David Stockdale from close range having earlier headed against the post. 2011 January 15, Nabil Hassan, “Wigan 1 - 1 Fulham”, in BBC:
(obsolete, transitive) To let fall heavily or lazily.
And their poor jades / Lob down their heads. 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:
(Australia, informal, intransitive) To reach or arrive at (a place).
So with great trepidation we lobbed at the theatre and were escorted to our seats[.] 1995, Paul Vautin, Turn It Up!, Sydney: Pan Macmillan Australia, page 204:
fi potkaista kaaripallo (to throw or hit a ball high into the air) · ca bombar (to throw or hit a ball high into the air) · mk ло́бува (to throw or hit a ball high into the air) · de lupfen (to throw or hit a ball high into the air) · fr faire un lob (to throw or hit a ball high into the air) · cs lobovat (to throw or hit a ball high into the air) · nl lobben (to throw or hit a ball high into the air) · fr lobber (to throw or hit a ball high into the air) · it tirare un pallonetto (to throw or hit a ball high into the air) · de lobben (to throw or hit a ball high into the air) · mk у́дри (to throw or hit a ball high into the air) · fi heittää kaaripallo (to throw or hit a ball high into the air) · fr lancer en chandelle (to throw or hit a ball high into the air) · ca fer un globus (to throw or hit a ball high into the air) · fr lancer haut (to throw or hit a ball high into the air) · ro loba (to throw or hit a ball high into the air) · sv lobba (to throw or hit a ball high into the air) · sh šutnuti (to throw or hit a ball high into the air) · fi iskeä kaaripallo (to throw or hit a ball high into the air) · fi lyödä kaaripallo (to throw or hit a ball high into the air)
From Middle English lob (“a lazy lout, bundle of clothing”), from Old English *lobb, *lobbe word for lumpish or unwieldy things, from Proto-Germanic *lubbǭ (“that which hangs or dangles”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ-, *lep- (“to peel, skin”). Compare Danish lobbes (“bumpkin, clown”), Old English loppe (“spider”) (in the sense of something that hangs or dangles). Possibly influenced or borrowed through Welsh llob (“lump”).
Meanings
(obsolete) A country bumpkin; a yokel.
THE country lob trudged home very much concerned and thoughtful, you may swear; insomuch that his good woman, seeing him thus look moping, weened that something had been stolen from him at market […] 1694, Peter Anthony Motteux, The Fourth Book, translation of original by Rabelais, Chapter XLVII:
Farewell, thou lob of spirits; I'll be gone: Our queen and all her elves come here anon. c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
A lump.
(dialectal) A nugget (of gold); (hence), a quantity of money; a haul; booty.
To the sellers in the market, to the barmen and barmaids, to the beggars who importuned him for a lob Mr Dedalus told the same tale […]. 1916, James Joyce, chapter II, in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, New York, N.Y.: B[enjamin] W. Huebsch, →OCLC:
And, moreover, I had no sooner set my eyes on the keys, than I remembered where there was a lob of money lying in Purcell's safe, that I — 1875, M.L. Kenny, The fortunes of Maurice Cronin, page 126:
From Middle English lob (“pollock”), cognate with Middle Dutch and Middle Low German lobbe (“a type of small plump or stocky fish, cod”), Danish lubbe, from Old Norse lubba, ultimately from sense 2 in the sense of "clumsy, heavily or lumpily hanging."
(UK, obsolete, slang) A form of fraud in which a person asks for change in a shop, palms some of the coins, and tells the shopkeeper that he has not given them enough.
Some are acute for the Lob; which is, going into a Shop to have a Guinea or Pistole chang'd, and the Change being given, the bringer of the Gold telling it over, Palms Two or Three Shillings, then returning the Money, says there wants so much, which the Shop-keeper telling over again, and finding short, very innocently crys 'tis true, and makes up the Summ. 1703, Hell Upon Earth, page 4: