mob

plural mobs

1. A large or disorderly group of people; especially one bent on riotous or destructive action.

   See also: Mob (the masses)

   1 more example

   Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.

   February 13, 1788, James Madison, Jr., Federalist No. 55

2. archaicThe lower classes of a community; the rabble.

   A cluster of mob, who were making themselves merry with their betters.

   1715 May 31 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 44. Friday, May 21. [1715.]”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], published 1721, →OCLC

3. collectiveA group of animals of any kind.

   Well behind the fire were the pack-saddles and a dark mob of feeding horses[.]

   1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 11

   1. collectiveA group of kangaroos.

      The leader of a mob of kangaroos is the strongest and usually the largest male in the group.

      2004, Louise Spilsbury, Richard Spilsbury, A Mob of Kangaroos, Heinemann Library, page 9

   2. broadlycollectiveA group of any marsupial.

      There must be a whole mob of wombats living in here!

      2024, Tylissa Elisara, Wurrtoo: The Wombat Who Fell in Love with the Sky, Hachette Australia

      1 more example

      Sex difference in size is so marked, that one familiar with the animals, can easily pick out the males in a mob when some distance away.

      1931, Bulletin, New York Zoological Society, page 34

   3. collectiveA group of emus.

      Without a second's delay another great rushing comes nearer. "By Jove! a mob of emus," says the old hunter.

      1886, Percy Clarke, The "new Chum" in Australia, Or, The Scenery, Life, and Manners of Australians in Town and Country, page 218

      2 more examples

      In the gated area nearest the barn and the pond, there were goats and sheep, llamas and ponies, and a mob of emus.

      2015, Doug Geeting, Running with the Mob: Stories About the Emus on the Farm

      Not even Wellington's horse rode with greater precipitancy upon Napoleon's troops at Waterloo than Dick advanced upon the mob of emus.

      1925, Joseph Bowes, The Fur-hunters in Australian Wilds, Humphrey Milford

4. A mafia: a group that engages in organized crime.

   See also: Mob, Mafia (proper noun senses for specific ones)

   3 more examples

   The Bat—they called him the Bat.[…]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.

   1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 01

   The Greeks, displaying a characteristic often a mark of defeated armies, pursued a 'scorched earth' policy toward western Anatolia... The Turkish population was subjected to horrible atrocities by the retreating troops and accompanying civilian Christian mobs.

   1979, P. K. Jensen, “The Greco-Turkish war, 1920–1922”, in International Journal of Middle East Studies, volume 10, number 4, Cambridge University Press, →DOI, page 563

   What if it is a mob killing? They can’t hurt me, but …

   1986, Paul Chadwick, Concrete: Under the Desert Stars, Dark Horse Books

   Synonyms: mafia, Mafia

5. Australian AboriginalA group of Aboriginal people associated with an extended family group, clan group or wider community group, from a particular place or country.

   There’s nothing like local knowledge and after thousands of years living here the Noongar mob understand this land better than anyone, so it makes sense for them to tap into the lucrative tourism industry.

   2011 March 10, Allan Clarke, W.A. through Noongar eyes

   1 more example

   There’s a saying among blak mob, ‘It doesn’t matter how much milk you put in tea, it’s still tea.’ I am a descendant of genocide survivors, a child of the oldest living culture on Earth. Nothing, no amount of milk, can change that.

   2021 November 7, Claire [G.] Coleman, “Not quite blak enough: ‘The people who think I am too white to be Aboriginal are all white’”, in The Guardian

present singular third person mobs · participle present mobbing · participle past mobbed · past mobbed

1. transitiveTo crowd around (someone), sometimes with hostility.

   The fans mobbed a well-dressed couple who resembled their idols.

   1 more example

   Politicians have been turning up to Glastonbury for years, but this year the leader of the opposition was among the most hotly anticipated attractions: when he arrived on site, his Land Rover was mobbed by fans.

   2017 June 26, Alexis Petridis, “Glastonbury 2017 verdict: Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Lorde, Stormzy and more”, in the Guardian

2. transitiveTo crowd into or around a place.

   The shoppers mobbed the store on the first day of the sale.

plural mobs

1. obsoleteA promiscuous woman; a harlot or wench; a prostitute.First known use 17th–18th c.
2. A mob cap.

   c. 1773-1774, Oliver Goldsmith, letter to Mrs Bunbury cover their faces with mobs

present singular third person mobs · participle present mobbing · participle past mobbed · past mobbed

1. transitiveTo wrap up in, or cover with, a cowl.

plural mobs

1. abbreviationAbbreviation of mobile phone.

   Synonyms: cell

2. video gamesA creature or non-player character, especially one meant to be fought or killed.

   Instead of fighting the mobs myself someone led me around to "help" me level; […]

   1999, Natalia, “Female Characters”, in GameCommandos

   1 more example

   You can't win with small, balanced groups. You have to zerg the mob with a high number of players.

   2002, Wolfie, “Re: Whoa - massive changes due in next patch”, in alt.games.everquest (Usenet)

   Synonyms: mobile

3. JapanesefictionA background character in general.

1. The Mafia: any particular mafia, mentioned uniquely within the discussion's established or implicit context, usually and especially the Sicilian–Italian–Italian-American one (especially in American English) but occasionally others (e.g., the Russian one, the Japanese one).

   1 more example

   The campfires provide enough plain old regular visible light to show this sorry affair for what it is: a bunch of demented Boy Scouts, a jamboree without merit badges or hygiene. With the IR supered on top of the visible, she can also see vague, spectral red faces out in the shadows where her unassisted eyes would only see darkness. These new Knight Visions cost her a big wad of her Mob drug-running money. Just the kind of thing Mom had in mind when she insisted Y.T. get a part-time job.

   1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, page 243

2. The masses, especially the 'great unwashed masses': the general population, or rabble, viewed as one mob of unruly, disorganized people predisposed to violence and malevolence.

   tempted to ascribe Poe's narrators' mentions of the Mob to misanthropy in the author himself

1. abbreviationinitialismnauticalInitialism of man overboard, used e.g. on the emergency button of a satellite navigator. By pushing the button the operator stores the coordinates of a man overboard incident for easy access.

1. abbreviationinitialismnot comparabledentistryInitialism of mesio occlusal buccal.
2. abbreviationinitialismnot comparableInitialism of missing on blog, the act of abandoning ones blog (or weblog) for an extended period of time.

plural MOBs

1. abbreviationinitialismInitialism of mother of the bride.