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.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑb.l̩/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒb.əl/

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• Rhymes: -ɒbəl

cobble (plural cobbles)

1. A cobblestone.
2. (geology) A particle from 64 to 256 mm in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.
3. (manufacturing) A piece of steel that becomes malformed during its manufacture or rolling.
   • 1913, Report on Conditions of Employment in the Iron and Steel Industry in the United States, United States Bureau of Labor:

     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.

   • 1915, Proceedings of Association of Iron & Steel Electrical:

     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.

   • 1919 April, “Rolling Mill Research Laboratory Founded”, in Blast Furnace and Steel Plant, volume 7:

     In practical mill work a roller often has to wait days and sometimes weeks before he can catch this condition, as he could not consider the stopping of production while he made a cobble in some particular roll pass that was giving him trouble, and it is mainly by studying the cobbles that the action of the steel can be observed and studied.

   • 2009, Vladimir B. Ginzburg, Flat-Rolled Steel Processes: Advanced Technologies, page 231:

     Cameras pointed between stands could be saved for 5 or 7 days, enough to troubleshoot cobble or off-level mills.

cobble (third-person singular simple present cobbles, present participle cobbling, simple past and past participle cobbled)

1. (intransitive) To make shoes (what a cobbler does).
2. (transitive) To assemble in an improvised way.

   I cobbled something together to get us through till morning.

3. (transitive, intransitive) To use cobblestones to pave a road, walkway, etc.

See coble.

cobble (plural cobbles)

1. Alternative form of coble (“a kind of fishing-boat”)