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MOB . (I) A disorderly See also:crowd, a See also:rabble, also a contemptuous name for the See also:common See also:people, the See also:lower orders, the See also:Greek ii Xor, (whence " ochlocracy," mob-See also:rule). The word is a shortened See also:form of See also:Lat. See also:mobile (sc. vulgus), the movable or mutable emotional, easily stirred crowd. " Mobile " in the sense of rabble was used in the 17th See also:century, and was still used after the shortened form, for some See also:time considered a vulgarism, had become common. Thus See also:Addison (Spectator, No. 135) writes, " It is perhaps this See also:humour of speaking no more than we needs must which has so miserably curtailed some of our words. . . . I dare not See also:answer that ` mob ' . . . ` incog.' and the like will not in time be looked at as See also:part of our See also:tongue." See also:Roger See also:North's Examen, vii., 574 (1740), See also:dates the beginning of the use of the shortened form " mob." " I may See also:note that the rabble first changed their See also:title and were called the ` mob ' in the assemblies of this See also:club. It was their beast of See also:burden, and called first mobile vulgus, but See also:fell naturally into the See also:con-See also:traction of one syllable, and ever since is become proper See also:English." The club alluded to is the See also:Green Ribbon Club (q.v.), and the date would be about 1680. (2) A See also:kind of See also:head-See also:dress for See also:women, usually called a " mob cap," worn during the 18th and See also:early part of the 19th centuries. It was a large cap covering all the See also:hair, with a bag-shaped See also:crown, a broad See also:band and frilled edge. It seems to have been originally an See also:article of See also:wear for the mornings. It is probably connected with words such as " See also:mop," " mab," meaning untidy, neglige. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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