• (America) enPR: hŏb, IPA: /hɑb/
• (RP) enPR: hŏb, IPA: /hɒb/

hob (plural hobs)

1. A kind of cutting tool, used to cut the teeth of a gear.
2. (historical) The flat projection or iron shelf at the side of a fire grate, where things are put to be kept warm.
   • 1898, Charles Dickens, wsource A Tale of Two Cities, Book the Second, Chapter V (The Jackal):

     They went into a dingy room lined with books and littered with papers, where there was a blazing fire. A kettle steamed upon the hob, and in the midst of the wreck of papers a table shone, with plenty of wine upon it, and brandy, and rum, and sugar, and lemons.

3. (British, AU, NZ) The top cooking surface on a cooker; a cooktop. It typically comprises several cooking elements (often four), also known as 'rings'.
   • 1913, Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 2

     And the first sound in the house was the bang, bang of the poker against the raker, as Morel smashed the remainder of the coal to make the kettle, which was filled and left on the hob, finally boil.

4. A rounded peg used as a target in several games, especially in quoits.
5. A male ferret.
6. The hub of a wheel.

• (cooking surface) cooktop, stovetop, range (US)

• French: armure
• Russian: червя́чная фреза́

• French: plan de cuisson
• German: (usual, but mean the entire cooker) Herd; (precise, but rarer) Kochfeld
• Italian: piano cottura
• Russian: ва́рочная пане́ль

• Russian: гвоздь

• Russian: хорёк

hob (hobs, present participle hobbing; past and past participle hobbed)

1. (transitive) To create (a gear) by cutting with a hob.
2. (intransitive) To engage in the process of cutting gears with a hob.

hob (plural hobs)

1. (obsolete) A fairy; a sprite; an elf; a bogey.
   • (Can we date this quote?), Francis Beaumont; John Fletcher, “Monsieur Thomas”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: Printed for Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, OCLC 3083972 ↗, Act 4, scene 6:

     From elves, hobs, and fairies, […] Defend us, good Heaven!

2. (obsolete) A countryman; a rustic or yokel.

• (supernatural creature) See goblin (hostile)

1. (obsolete) A nickname for Robin or Robert
2. (archaic) A nickname for Robin Goodfellow, Puck; (later) the devil
3. Surname

• Hobb
• Robb
• Rob
• Bob