Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A cobblestone.
- n. Geology A rock fragment between 64 and 256 millimeters in diameter, especially one that has been naturally rounded.
- n. See cob coal.
- v. To pave with cobblestones.
- v. To make or mend (boots or shoes).
- v. To put together clumsily; bungle: cobbled a plan together at the last minute.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A stone rounded by the action of water, and of a size suitable for use in paving. Smaller stones of the same character are usually called pebbles, and larger ones boulders. Also called cobblestone, cobstone.
- n. A rounded hill.
- n. A round nut like a cobble. See cobnut.
- n. A kernel or stone (of fruit, etc.).
- n. A lump of coal from the size of an egg to that of a foot-ball.
- n. An icicle.
- To mend or patch (especially shoes or boots).
- Hence To put together, make, or do clumsily, unhandily, or coarsely.
- To work as a cobbler; work clumsily.
- n. See coble.
- n. A name for the red-throated diver, Colymbus septentrionalis.
- n. In general, any piece of iron or steel which is wasted during rolling or forging: specifically, an imperfectly puddled ball of iron which goes to pieces in the squeezer.
Wiktionary
- n. A cobblestone.
- v. To make shoes (what a cobbler does).
- v. To assemble ('cobble together' an improvised assembly).
- v. To use cobblestones to pave a road, walkway, etc.
- v. To tell someone a story of dubious authenticity; a tall tale.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A fishing boat. See coble.
- n. A cobblestone.
- n. Cob coal. See under Cob.
- v. To make or mend coarsely; to patch; to botch.
- v. To make clumsily.
- v. To pave with cobblestones.
WordNet 3.0
- v. repair or mend
- n. rectangular paving stone with curved top; once used to make roads
- v. pave with cobblestones
Etymologies
- Short for cobblestone.Probably back-formation from cobbler1.
Examples
“Then, too, the roads were of the kind called _pavé_; that is, paved with what we know as cobble-stones or Belgian blocks.”
“Michener gets everything right, from the pronunciation of Kabul -- "cobble" -- to the archaeology.”
“You can kind of cobble together a mental image of a lifetime spent with men nodding their heads in apparent fascination and listening to hours of endless drivel trying to figure out when and how to get their pants off and draw some conclusions as to why this might be, but let's just say that intellectual humility and celebrity beauty don't often go hand-in-hand.”
“More than one captain made up his mind then and there that his "cobble" or his "mule," as they term the different classes of boats, would remain in the harbour till the storm had passed.”
“cobble' or his 'mule', as they term the different classes of boats, would remain in the harbour till the storm had passed.”
“It does stink to not be able to get the job one wants right off, but most young people, if they have not overburdened themselves with stupid debt (e.g. cars, credit cards), can ride out a hiring lag and manage to cobble together a successful career in its aftermath.”
“If I were to cobble together a list of summer trash the 1st thing I would do is disqualify anything that shows up your standard school reading list.”
“On the other hand, with Mr. Perry and Ms. Bachmann splitting the social conservatives and tea party affiliates, there's an opportunity for Mr. Romney to cobble together a winning coalition of his own.”
“Good walking shoes and boots are essential with the cobble stone streets.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cobble’.
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CCle
all those wonderful Britsy words that end with a double consonant followed by 'le'
doddle, bobble, dibble, whiffle, waffle, diddle, piddle, jiggle, straggle, boggle, fiddle, skeedaddle and 122 more...
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fix
set, anchor, mend, rivet, moor, clinch, emend, circumfix, fixated, cefixime, fixed cost, confix and 87 more...

john A kind of boat: “More than one captain made up his mind then and there that his 'cobble' or his 'mule', as they term the different classes of boats, would remain in the harbour till the storm had passed.”
Dracula, by Bram Stoker Mar 2, 2011
chained_bear Ah yes, rolig... Artisanal labor. :) Nov 26, 2007
rolig I like this word in both its direct meanings: "cobble" as in cobblestone, and "cobble" as in "repair shoes". But I really like the figurative usage that derives from this second meaning, as in "to cobble something together". A nice image of low-tech premodern industriousness. Nov 26, 2007
sumit is defined by the Udden-Wentworth scale as being between 64 and 256 millimetres in diameter. Feb 26, 2007