or fub, subs. (old).—1. A cheat; a trick; a swindle. TO COME THE FOB = to impose upon; to swindle: cf., COME OVER.
c. 1696. B. E., A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew. FOB, c., a cheat trick.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. FOB.
1848. E. Z. C. JUDSON (‘Ned Buntline’), The Mysteries and Miseries of New York, ch. vii. He come ze FOB on some of ze nobilitie, and zey invite him to go to Amerique.
2. (old: now recognised).—A breeches pocket; a watch pocket.
1678. BUTLER, Hudibras, III., i., 107.
| Had rifled all his pokes and FOBS | |
| Of gimcracks, whims, and jiggumbobs. |
c. 1696. B. E., A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew. FOB, c., also a little pocket.
1703. MARVELL, Poems on Affairs of State. ‘Royal Revolutions.’ When plate was in pawn and FOB at an ebb. Ibid. ‘Last Instructions,’ etc. More gold in’s FOB, more lace upon his coat.
1785. GROSE, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
3. (common).—A watch chain or ribbon, with buckle and seals, worn hanging from the fob.
Verb. (old).—1. To rob; to cheat; to pocket; also TO FOB OFF.
1700. CONGREVE, The Way of the World, i., 9. There were items of such a treaty in embrio; and if it shou’d come to life poor Mirabell wou’d be in some sort unfortunately FOBB’D, i’faith.
1703. CENTLIVRE, The Stolen Heiress, III., iv., wks. (1872), i., 358. I shall be FOBB’D of my mistress, by and by, why, Frank, why thou wilt not FOB me wilt thou.
1731. FIELDING, The Grub-Street Opera, i., 5.
| While ev’ry one else he is FOBBING, | |
| He still may be honest to me. |
1789. WOLCOT (‘Peter Pindar’), Rowland for an Oliver, in wks. (Dublin, 1795), Vol. II., p. 159.
| To use a cant phrase, we’ve been finely FOBB’D, | |
| Indeed, have very dext’rously been robb’d. |
1840. HOWITT, Visits to Remarkable Places, p. 170. Very pretty sums he has FOBBED now and then.
1842. Punch, III., p. 239, col. 2. The world turns its back on you, and neither by cards nor dice can you FOB your brother mortal out of a single guinea.
2. (old).—To deceive; trifle with; disappoint; to put off dishonestly or unfairly.
1598. SHAKESPEARE, 2 Henry IV., ii. 1. A hundred mark is a long loan for a poor lone woman to bear, and I have borne, and borne, and borne, and have been FUBBED off and FUBBED off. Ibid. (1602), Othello, iv. 2. I think it is scurvy, and begin to find myself FOBBED in it. Ibid. (1610), Coriolanus, i. 1. You must not think to FOB off our disgrace with a tale.
1884. Fortnightly Review, XXXVI., p. 75. In nothing are amateur backers of horses FOBBED OFF by professionals with less than the legitimate odds than in backing double and triple events.
1864. The Tramp Exposed, p. 7. A miserable, a job lot of humanity as had ever been FOBBED OFF on a defrauded universe.
1819. T. MOORE, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, 1. Diddling your subjects, and GUTTING their FOBS.
