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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1941 (SND Vol. II).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BOB, n.3

1. “A mark, a but; either q[uasi] a small bunch set up as a mark, or, from the sense of the Eng. v., something to strike at” (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Uls.2 1929).Arg.2 1935:
Boys in Campbeltown, Kintyre, playing at quoits with flat stones or slates, used to call the stone set as the mark aimed at the bob, and when they struck it with a well-thrown quoit they were said to make a bob.

2. “A taunt, a scoff” (Sh.7 1935; n.Sc. 1808 Jam.).Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore 60:
But they that travel, monie a bob maun byde.

[Possibly from O.Fr. bobe, deception, mocking, from O.Fr. bober. Now obs. in St.Eng., see N.E.D. s.v. bob, n.2 and n.3]

3694

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