From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
bob
n 1: a former monetary unit in Great Britain [syn: {British
shilling}, shilling, bob]
2: a hair style for women and children; a short haircut all
around
3: a long racing sled (for 2 or more people) with a steering
mechanism [syn: bobsled, bobsleigh, bob]
4: a hanging weight, especially a metal ball on a string
5: a small float usually made of cork; attached to a fishing
line [syn: bob, bobber, cork, bobfloat]
6: a short or shortened tail of certain animals [syn: bobtail,
bob, dock]
7: a short abrupt inclination (as of the head); "he gave me a
short bob of acknowledgement"
v 1: move up and down repeatedly; "her rucksack bobbed gently on
her back"
2: ride a bobsled; "The boys bobbed down the hill screaming with
pleasure" [syn: bobsled, bob]
3: remove or shorten the tail of an animal [syn: dock, tail,
bob]
4: make a curtsy; usually done only by girls and women; as a
sign of respect; "She curtsied when she shook the Queen's
hand" [syn: curtsy, bob]
5: cut hair in the style of a bob; "Bernice bobs her hair these
days!"
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Bob \Bob\ (b[o^]b), n. [An onomatopoetic word, expressing quick,
jerky motion; OE. bob bunch, bobben to strike, mock, deceive.
Cf. Prov. Eng. bob, n., a ball, an engine beam, bunch, blast,
trick, taunt, scoff; as, a v., to dance, to courtesy, to
disappoint, OF. bober to mock.]
1. Anything that hangs so as to play loosely, or with a short
abrupt motion, as at the end of a string; a pendant; as,
the bob at the end of a kite's tail.
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In jewels dressed and at each ear a bob. --Dryden.
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2. A knot of worms, or of rags, on a string, used in angling,
as for eels; formerly, a worm suitable for bait.
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Or yellow bobs, turned up before the plow,
Are chiefest baits, with cork and lead enow.
--Lauson.
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3. A small piece of cork or light wood attached to a fishing
line to show when a fish is biting; a float.
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4. The ball or heavy part of a pendulum; also, the ball or
weight at the end of a plumb line.
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5. A small wheel, made of leather, with rounded edges, used
in polishing spoons, etc.
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6. A short, jerking motion; act of bobbing; as, a bob of the
head.
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7. (Steam Engine) A working beam.
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8. A knot or short curl of hair; also, a bob wig.
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A plain brown bob he wore. --Shenstone.
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9. A peculiar mode of ringing changes on bells.
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10. The refrain of a song.
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To bed, to bed, will be the bob of the song.
--L'Estrange.
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11. A blow; a shake or jog; a rap, as with the fist.
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12. A jeer or flout; a sharp jest or taunt; a trick.
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He that a fool doth very wisely hit,
Doth very foolishly, although he smart,
Not to seem senseless of the bob. --Shak.
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13. A shilling. [Slang, Eng.] --Dickens.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Bob \Bob\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bobbed; p. pr. & vb. n.
Bobbing.] [OE. bobben. See Bob, n.]
1. To cause to move in a short, jerking manner; to move (a
thing) with a bob. "He bobbed his head." --W. Irving.
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2. To strike with a quick, light blow; to tap.
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If any man happened by long sitting to sleep . . .
he was suddenly bobbed on the face by the servants.
--Elyot.
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3. To cheat; to gain by fraud or cheating; to filch.
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Gold and jewels that I bobbed from him. --Shak.
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4. To mock or delude; to cheat.
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To play her pranks, and bob the fool,
The shrewish wife began. --Turbervile.
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5. To cut short; as, to bob the hair, or a horse's tail.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Bob \Bob\, v. i.
1. To have a short, jerking motion; to play to and fro, or up
and down; to play loosely against anything. "Bobbing and
courtesying." --Thackeray.
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2. To angle with a bob. See Bob, n., 2 & 3.
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He ne'er had learned the art to bob
For anything but eels. --Saxe.
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To bob at an apple, cherry, etc. to attempt to bite or
seize with the mouth an apple, cherry, or other round
fruit, while it is swinging from a string or floating in a
tug of water.
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From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008) [foldoc]:
Bob
David Betz. A tiny object-oriented language.
{(ftp://ftp.mv.com/pub/ddj/packages/bob15.arc)}.
[Dr Dobbs J, Sep 1991, p.26].
From Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) [jargon]:
bob
n.
At Demon Internet, all tech support personnel are called "Bob".
(Female support personnel have an option on "Bobette"). This has
nothing to do with Bob the divine drilling-equipment salesman of the
Church of the SubGenius. Nor is it acronymized from "Brother Of
BOFH", though all parties agree it could have been. Rather, it was
triggered by an unusually large draft of new tech-support people in
1995. It was observed that there would be much duplication of names.
To ease the confusion, it was decided that all support techs would
henceforth be known as "Bob", and identity badges were created
labelled "Bob 1" and "Bob 2". ("No, we never got any further" reports
a witness).
The reason for "Bob" rather than anything else is due to a luser
calling and asking to speak to "Bob", despite the fact that no "Bob"
was currently working for Tech Support. Since we all know "the
customer is always right", it was decided that there had to be at
least one "Bob" on duty at all times, just in case.
This sillyness snowballed inexorably. Shift leaders and managers began
to refer to their groups of "bobs". Whole ranks of support machines
were set up (and still exist in the DNS as of 1999) as bob1 through
bobN. Then came alt.tech-support.recovery, and it was filled with
Demon support personnel. They all referred to themselves, and to
others, as "bob", and after a while it caught on. There is now a Bob
Code describing the Bob nature.