hob

Imagine an old cottage kitchen. Beside the fire is a small metal ledge called a *hob, a handy place to keep a kettle or a pot warm. In modern British English, the word is also used for the top part of a stove, where the burners or heating zones are. You may also meet the word in older stories, where Hob is a name for a small household spirit or goblin. From that idea comes the phrase play hob with*, which means to cause trouble or spoil something.

The word "hob" has lived in both the home and in old folklore. Its main older meaning is a shelf, ledge, or projection at the side of a fireplace grate, used to keep kettles, pans, or food warm. In modern English, especially British English, it commonly means the cooktop: the top part of a stove with burners or heating elements.

The word also has a mischievous side. In English folklore, "Hob" was a familiar name for a goblin, elf, or household spirit, and it appears in words such as *hobgoblin. That sense connects with the idiom play hob with*, which means to seriously disrupt, damage, or spoil something. For example, bad weather might play hob with your travel plans.

The card should not treat *hob itself as a normal verb meaning "to hang around" or "to cause trouble." Those ideas belong, at most, to related expressions, not to the standalone word. Whether you are talking about a warm ledge by the fire, a modern cooktop, or the impish figure behind hobgoblin and play hob with*, "hob" is a small word with a long English history.