A large or disorderly group of people; especially one bent on riotous or destructive action.
Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.February 13, 1788, James Madison, Jr., Federalist No. 55
See also: Mob (the masses)
2
Archaic The lower classes of a community; the rabble.
A cluster of mob, who were making themselves merry with their betters.1715 May 31 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “The Free-holder: No. 44. Friday, May 21. [1715.]”, in The Works of the Right Honourable Joseph Addison, Esq; […], volume IV, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], published 1721, →OCLC:
3
Collective A group of animals such as horses or cattle.
Well behind the fire were the pack-saddles and a dark mob of feeding horses[.]1937, Ion L. Idriess, Over the Range, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, published 1947, page 11:
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.1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 01:
The Greeks, displaying a characteristic often a mark of defeated armies, pursued a 'scorched earth' policy toward western Anatolia... The Turkish population was subjected to horrible atrocities by the retreating troops and accompanying civilian Christian mobs.1979, P. K. Jensen, “The Greco-Turkish war, 1920–1922”, in International Journal of Middle East Studies, volume 10, number 4, Cambridge University Press, →DOI, page 563:
2 more examples
What if it is a mob killing? They can’t hurt me, but …1986, Paul Chadwick, Concrete: Under the Desert Stars, Dark Horse Books:
See also: Mob, Mafia (proper noun senses for specific ones)
7
A group of Aboriginal people associated with an extended family group, clan group or wider community group, from a particular place or country.
Australian Aboriginal
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.2011 March 10, Allan Clarke, W.A. through Noongar eyes:
There’s a saying among blak mob, ‘It doesn’t matter how much milk you put in tea, it’s still tea.’ I am a descendant of genocide survivors, a child of the oldest living culture on Earth. Nothing, no amount of milk, can change that.2021 November 7, Claire [G.] Coleman, “Not quite blak enough: ‘The people who think I am too white to be Aboriginal are all white’”, in The Guardian:
Etymology From Middle English mob, short for mobile, from Latin mōbile (vulgus) (“fickle (crowd)”).
1
To crowd around (someone), sometimes with hostility.
The fans mobbed a well-dressed couple who resembled their idols.
Politicians have been turning up to Glastonbury for years, but this year the leader of the opposition was among the most hotly anticipated attractions: when he arrived on site, his Land Rover was mobbed by fans.2017 June 26, Alexis Petridis, “Glastonbury 2017 verdict: Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Lorde, Stormzy and more”, in the Guardian:
2
To crowd into or around a place.
The shoppers mobbed the store on the first day of the sale.
Etymology Clipping of mobile. The video-gaming sense is sometimes reported as an abbreviation of man or beast or of mobile object, but these are backronyms.
1
Abbreviation Abbreviation of mobile phone.
2
Video games A creature or non-player character, especially one meant to be fought or killed.
Instead of fighting the mobs myself someone led me around to "help" me level; […]1999, Natalia, “Female Characters”, in GameCommandos:
You can't win with small, balanced groups. You have to zerg the mob with a high number of players.2002, Wolfie, “Re: Whoa - massive changes due in next patch”, in alt.games.everquest (Usenet):