Dictionary

quob en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /kwɒb/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /kwɑb/ (General-American)

Etymology

From Middle English quabbe, from Old English *cwabbe, from Proto-West Germanic *kwabbā (“soggy ground”). Compare Middle Low German quobbe (“swampy ground”), Middle High German quabbe (“marshy ground, unstable moorland”), whence Modern German Quabbe (“large bulge”). For the verb, compare German Low German quabbeln, quobbeln (“to tremble, vibrate”), German quabbeln (“to move back and forth as a squishy mass, wobble, jiggle”).

Meanings

1. (dialectal) A marshy spot; bog, quagmire; quicksand.
2. (dialectal) A heap or mess; a bad condition.
3. (dialectal) An unfirm layer of fat.
4. (dialectal) A throb or palpitation.

Forms

Deriveds

quobmire · quobby

quob en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /kwɒb/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /kwɑb/ (General-American)

Etymology

From Middle English quabbe, from Old English *cwabbe, from Proto-West Germanic *kwabbā (“soggy ground”). Compare Middle Low German quobbe (“swampy ground”), Middle High German quabbe (“marshy ground, unstable moorland”), whence Modern German Quabbe (“large bulge”). For the verb, compare German Low German quabbeln, quobbeln (“to tremble, vibrate”), German quabbeln (“to move back and forth as a squishy mass, wobble, jiggle”).

Meanings

1. (dialectal, intransitive, rare) To throb; to quiver.
   • For the gray mass quobbed and quivered, and swelled perpetually 1944, Clark Ashton Smith, Lost Worlds:

Forms