Cobs

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /kɒbz/

Definitions

1. A type of ear of maize that is eaten or harvested, typically characterized by a central core surrounded by kernels
2. The part of a corn plant that consists of a thick central stem bearing rows of edible grains
3. An ear of corn used for food, particularly when it is freshly harvested and includes the soft, sweet kernels

Etymology: The word "cob" for an ear of corn is a case where the dictionaries cannot give a single confident answer. Its many senses (a male swan, a sturdy horse, a lump of coal, a round loaf) seem to come from several unrelated sources, and scholars still argue about which sense belongs to which origin. The corn sense is one of the clearer ones: it most likely arose from the way a bite of sweetcorn gets worked along the cob, a comparison that is plausible but not proven. Because the origin is so uncertain, several rival theories circulate. Some connect "cob" to a Middle English word meaning "fight", others to a Welsh word meaning "blow", and others to an Icelandic word meaning "chop". Each has been proposed for some sense of the word, and none can be confirmed for the corn sense specifically. "Cobs" is simply the plural of "cob", so it refers to more than one ear of corn. Its history is the same as the singular's: a word whose exact beginnings remain unknown.

Synonyms: ears, kernels, stalks