WordGarden.iohob
C2Pronunciation
UK
- /hˈɒb/
US
- /ˈhɑb/
Meanings
Noun
a cooking surface or burner on a stove
a rotating cutting tool used to make gears or screw threads
a male ferret
Beyond the definition
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.
Examples
- 1
Cooking
Put the saucepan on the hob and let the soup warm through.
- Usage
In British English, a hob is the flat top part of a cooker where you heat pans.
- 2
Safety
Be careful, the hob is still hot.
- 3
Kitchen appliance
We replaced our old gas hob with an induction one.
See also
Forms and spellings
1 form open this card.
Main spelling
- hobnounverb