different between mob vs number

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: m?b, IPA^(key): /m?b/
• (General American) enPR: m?b, IPA^(key): /m?b/
• Rhymes: -?b

Etymology 1

From Middle English mob, short for mobile, from Latin m?bile (vulgus) (“fickle (crowd)”). The video-gaming sense originates from English mobile, used by Richard Bartle for objects capable of movement in an early MUD.

Noun

mob (plural mobs)

1. A large or disorderly group of people; especially one bent on riotous or destructive action.
   • February 13, 1788, James Madison, Jr., Federalist No. 55

     Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.

2. (collective noun) A group of animals such as horses or cattle.
3. A flock of emus.
4. The Mafia, or a similar group that engages in organized crime (preceded by the).

   • The Bat—they called him the Bat. […]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.

   • 1986, Paul Chadwick, Concrete: Under the Desert Stars, Dark Horse Books

     What if it is a mob killing? They can’t hurt me, but …

5. (video games) A non-player character, especially one that exists to be fought or killed to further the progression of the story or game.
   • 2002, "Wolfie", Re: Whoa - massive changes due in next patch (on newsgroup alt.games.everquest)

     You can't win with small, balanced groups. You have to zerg the mob with a high number of players.

6. (archaic) The lower classes of a community; the rabble.
7. (Australian Aboriginal) A group of Aboriginal people associated with an extended family group, clan group or wider community group, from a particular place or country.
   • 2011 March 10, Allan Clarke, W.A. through Noongar eyes

     There’s nothing like local knowledge and after thousands of years living here the Noongar mob understand this land better than anyone, so it makes sense for them to tap into the lucrative tourism industry.

Synonyms

• (mafia): mafia, Mafia

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

mob (third-person singular simple present mobs, present participle mobbing, simple past and past participle mobbed)

1. (transitive) To crowd around (someone), sometimes with hostility.

   The fans mobbed a well-dressed couple who resembled their idols.
2. (transitive) To crowd into or around a place.

   The shoppers mobbed the store on the first day of the sale.

Translations

Etymology 2

Alteration of mab.

Noun

mob (plural mobs)

1. (obsolete) A promiscuous woman; a harlot or wench; a prostitute. [17th-18th c.]
2. A mob cap.
   • c. 1773-1774, Oliver Goldsmith, letter to Mrs Bunbury

     cover their faces with mobs

Derived terms

• mob cap

Verb

mob (third-person singular simple present mobs, present participle mobbing, simple past and past participle mobbed)

1. (transitive) To wrap up in, or cover with, a cowl.

Etymology 3

Abbreviation of mobile phone.

Noun

mob (plural mobs)

1. mobile phone

Usage notes

• This is most often used in signwriting to match with the other three-letter abbreviations tel (“telephone”) and fax (“facsimile”).

Further reading

• Mob in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

References

Anagrams

• BMO, BOM, BoM, MBO, OMB

Danish

Verb

mob

1. imperative of mobbe

French

Etymology

Abbreviated form of mobylette.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m?b/

Noun

mob f (plural mobs)

1. (colloquial) scooter, moped

Further reading

• “mob” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Volapük

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mob/

Noun

mob (nominative plural mobs)

1. suggestion

Declension

Derived terms

• mobön

White Hmong

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m??/

Etymology

From Proto-Hmong-Mien *?mun (“illness, pain”). Cognate with Iu Mien mun.

Verb

mob

1. to be ill/sick; to hurt; to be unwell

References

• Ernest E. Heimbach, White Hmong - English Dictionary (1979, SEAP Publications)

English

Alternative forms

• nummer (dialectal)
• numbre (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From Middle English number, nombre, numbre, noumbre, from Anglo-Norman noumbre, Old French nombre, from Latin numerus (“number”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nem- (“to divide”). Compare Saterland Frisian Nummer, Nuumer, West Frisian nûmer, Dutch nummer (“number”), German Nummer (“number”), Danish nummer (“number”), Swedish nummer (“number”), Icelandic númer (“number”). Replaced Middle English ?etæl and rime, more at tell, tale and rhyme.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: n?m?b?r, IPA^(key): /?n?mb?/
• (General American) enPR: n?m?b?r, IPA^(key): /?n?mb?/
• Rhymes: -?mb?(?)
• Hyphenation: num?ber

Noun

number (plural numbers)

1. (countable) An abstract entity used to describe quantity.

2. (countable) A numeral: a symbol for a non-negative integer.

   Synonyms: scalar, (obsolete) rime

3. (countable, mathematics) An element of one of several sets: natural numbers, integers, rational numbers, real numbers, complex numbers, and sometimes extensions such as hypercomplex numbers, etc.

4. (Followed by a numeral; used attributively) Indicating the position of something in a list or sequence. Abbreviations: No or No., no or no. (in each case, sometimes written with a superscript "o", like Nº or ?). The symbol "#" is also used in this manner.

5. Quantity.
   • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates

     Number itself importeth not much in armies where the people are of weak courage.

6. A sequence of digits and letters used to register people, automobiles, and various other items.

7. (countable, informal) A telephone number.
   • 2001, E. Forrest Hein, The Ruach Project, Xulon Press, page 86:

     “[...] I wonder if you could get hold of him and have him call me here at Interior. I’m in my office, do you have my number?”

   • 2007, Lindsey Nicole Isham, No Sex in the City: One Virgin's Confessions on Love, Lust, Dating, and Waiting, Kregel Publications, page 111:

     When I agreed to go surfing with him he said, “Great, can I have your number?” Well, I don’t give my number to guys I don’t know.

   • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     Marsha's work number is 555-8986.

8. (grammar) Of a word or phrase, the state of being singular, dual or plural, shown by inflection.

   Synonym: numeral

9. (now rare, in the plural) Poetic metres; verses, rhymes.
10. (countable) A performance; especially, a single song or song and dance routine within a larger show.

11. (countable, informal) A person.
    • 1968, Janet Burroway, The dancer from the dance: a novel, Little, Brown, page 40:

      I laughed. "Don't doubt that. She's a saucy little number."

    • 1988, Erica Jong, Serenissima, Dell, page 214:

      "Signorina Jessica," says the maid, a saucy little number, "your father has gone to his prayers and demands that you come to the synagogue at once [...]"

    • 2005, Denise A. Agnew, Kate Hill & Arianna Hart, By Honor Bound, Ellora's Cave Publishing, page 207:

      He had to focus on the mission, staying alive and getting out, not on the sexy number rubbing up against him.

12. (countable, informal) An item of clothing, particularly a stylish one.
    • 2007, Cesca Martin, Agony Angel: So You Think You've Got Problems..., Troubador Publishing Ltd, page 134:

      The trouble was I was wearing my backless glittering number from the night before underneath, so unless I could persuade the office it was National Fancy Dress Day I was doomed to sweat profusely in bottle blue.

    • 2007, Lorelei James, Running with the Devil, Samhain Publishing, Ltd, page 46:

      "I doubt the sexy number you wore earlier tonight fell from the sky."

13. (slang, chiefly US) A marijuana cigarette, or joint; also, a quantity of marijuana bought form a dealer.
    • 2009, Thomas Pynchon, Inherent Vice, Vintage 2010, page 12:

      Back at his place again, Doc rolled a number, put on a late movie, found an old T-shirt, and sat tearing it up into short strips […]

14. (dated) An issue of a periodical publication.

    the latest number of a magazine

15. A large amount, in contrast to a smaller amount; numerical preponderance.
    • 1980, May 10, Al King "Braves travel to New England with reputation", The Indiana Gazette

      Despite last week's woes, the Braves still sport numbers that would make Christie Brinkley blush.

16. (informal, always indefinite) A large amount of damage

    • (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

Translations

Verb

number (third-person singular simple present numbers, present participle numbering, simple past and past participle numbered)

1. (transitive) To label (items) with numbers; to assign numbers to (items).

   Number the baskets so that we can find them easily.

2. (intransitive) To total or count; to amount to.

   I don’t know how many books are in the library, but they must number in the thousands.

See also

• (grammatical numbers): singular, dual, trial, quadral, paucal, plural

References

• number on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Derived terms

• number among

Translations

See also

• Wiktionary’s Appendix of numbers

Etymology 2

From numb + -er.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: n?m'?, IPA^(key): /?n?m?/
• (US): enPR: n?m'?r, IPA^(key): /?n?m?/
• Hyphenation: num?ber

Adjective

number

1. comparative form of numb: more numb

Anagrams

• numbre, renumb

Estonian

Etymology

From German Nummer. The added -b- is analoguous to kamber and klamber.

Noun

number (genitive numbri, partitive numbrit)

1. number

Declension

Middle English

Noun

number

1. Alternative form of nombre

Papiamentu

Etymology

From English number.

An analogy of the Papiamentu word nòmber "name".

Noun

number

1. number