different between hobbler vs cobbler

English

Etymology

Old English also hobeler, Old French hobelier, Latin hobellarius. See hobby (“a horse”).

Noun

hobbler (plural hobblers)

1. One who hobbles.
   • 2005, Maureen Rylance, The Spur on the Plate

     The horse was one of the finest I had seen, not a hobbler. This was a far more delicate creature.

2. (Britain, historical) One who by his tenure was to maintain a horse for military service; a kind of light-horseman in the Middle Ages who was mounted on a hobby.
   • 1954, James Francis Lydon, The hobelar: An Irish contribution to medieval warfare, Irish Sword, II, v, pp. 12–16.

     • However superior the Norman knight might be upon the field of battle, the bogs and woods of Ireland gave little opportunity for the mail-clad charge. Thus there evolved in Ireland, as a habitual part of every Anglo-Norman force, a type of light horseman, which came to be known as the hobelar.

   • 1827, Henry Hallam, The Constitutional History of England

     no man shall be constrained to find men at arms, hobblers, nor archers, other than those who hold by such service

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir J. Davies to this entry?)

3. An unlicensed pilot, casual dock labourer, etc.
4. A man who tows a canal boat with a rope.

English

Etymology

From Middle English cobler, cobeler, cobelere, of unknown origin. Apparently equivalent to cobble +? -er, and related also to cobblestone.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?bl?(?)/, /?k?b?l?(?)/

Noun

cobbler (plural cobblers)

1. A person who makes and repairs shoes
2. A person who lays cobbles; a roadworker
3. A kind of pie, usually filled with fruit, that lacks a crust at the base
4. (slang, usually in the plural) A police officer

   Look out: it's the cobblers!.

5. An alcoholic drink containing spirit or wine, with sugar and lemon juice
   • 1858 June, Asirvadam the Brahmin, in The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 2, Number 1,

     In the creed of Asirvadam the Brahmin, the drinker of strong drink is a Pariah, and the eater of cow's flesh is damned already. If, then, he can tell a cocktail from a cobbler, and scientifically discriminate between a julep and a gin-sling, it must be because the Vedas are unclasped to him; for in the Vedas all things are taught.

6. (obsolete) A clumsy workman
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, I. i. 11:

     Truly, sir, in respect of a fine workman, I / am but, as you would say, a cobbler.

Synonyms

• (person who repairs shoes): shoemender, shoemaker (person making or repairing shoes), cordwainer (archaic; person making shoes from new leather), waxy/waxie, lad of wax
• (police officer): see Thesaurus:police officer

Translations

References

• “cobbler”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

Anagrams

• clobber