cobble
UK/ˈkɒb.əl//ˈkɑ.bəl/
cobble noun: a cobblestone. Also the alternative form of coble.
Noun
cobble (plural cobbles)
- A cobblestone.
- The narrow streets that twist and turn through the compact heart of Dent are surfaced with cobbles which, in the absence of pavements, spread right across from doorstep to doorstep.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 150
- A particle from 64 to 256 mm in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.
- A piece of steel that becomes malformed during its manufacture or rolling.
- These men are located near the rolls in a pulpit, which is usually completely inclosed with heavy close-meshed netting or boiler plate, so that if a cobble occurs they will be protected from the rods which fly in all directions on such occasions.1913, Report on Conditions of Employment in the Iron and Steel Industry in the United States, United States Bureau of Labor
- The ideal control which they offer the reversing motor is such, when a cobble might be made in the steel mill, the metal can be handled gently, and very often the ingot saved.1915, Proceedings of Association of Iron & Steel Electrical
Verb
cobble (third-person singular simple present cobbles, present participle cobbling, simple past and past participle cobbled)
- To make shoes (what a cobbler does).
- To assemble in an improvised way.
- I cobbled something together to get us through till morning.
- To use cobblestones to pave a road, walkway, etc.
Proper noun capitalized: Cobble
Cobble (plural Cobbles)
- A surname.
Also used as
cobble is also the alternative form of coble.
Examples of cobble in a sentence
- Before this street was paved with asphalt concrete, it was paved with cobbles.
- Dozens of unworked obsidian cobbles were found buried with the deceased.
- It’s possible to cobble together a meatier meal, like country pâté ($8) or succulent duck rillette ($7).
Forms of cobble
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | cobbles |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | cobbles |
| present participle | cobbling |
| past participle | cobbled |
| past | cobbled |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Cobbles |
Origin of cobble
From Middle English cobill, kobill (used in various combinations with ston, stan (“stone”), note, nutt (“nut”), etc.), probably a diminutive of Middle English *cob, *cobb, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kubb- (“lump; round object”). Equivalent to cob + -le. Cognate to North Germanic kubb-, kobb- (“round object, bulge, heap, islet, seal, bowler hat, etc”).
See coble.
* As an English surname, variant of Coble. * As a German surname, Americanized from Kobel.
Words formed from cobble
Words that rhyme with cobble
Questions about cobble
- What does cobble mean?
- Cobble means a cobblestone.
- What part of speech is cobble?
- Cobble can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce cobble?
- Cobble is pronounced /ˈkɒb.əl/ (UK).
- What is the plural of cobble?
- The plural of cobble is cobbles.
Words near cobble in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: cobble (page history and authors); Cobble (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-cobble.ogg.
Cite this entry: “cobble.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cobble. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.