Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a lump or clot of some slimy substance.

[1555–8		T. Phaer Æneid II. Hiijb: Belching out the gubbes of blood [EDD]].
1708		True Characters of A Deceitful Petty-Fogger et al. 8: She [...] Prattles more than any at the Table against Sense, Antichrist, and her Husband, till a fat Gob of Mother Tripe and Mustard, puts her to Silence.
1774		Foote Cozeners in Works (1799) II 164: The venison was over-roasted, and stunk – but Doctor Dewlap twisted down such gobs of fat.
1843		R.S. Surtees Handley Cross (1854) 115: Heer’s a buoy spit in my ’and! the biggest gog wotever was seen!
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 46: GOB, mucus, saliva.
1869		‘Mark Twain’ Innocents Abroad 65: It is pushed out into the sea on the end of a flat, narrow strip of land, and is suggestive of a ‘gob’ of mud on the end of a shingle.
1896		G.F. Northall Warwickshire Word-Book 93: Gob. Spittle containing mucus.
1912		H.A. White ‘A Word-List From Central New York’ in DN III:viii 567: gob, n. Small piece of anything; often something in a plastic state.
1918		V. Marshall Jail From Within (1969) 22: A long gaunt, silent individual [...] coughed hoarsely and expectorated huge gobs of crimson-streaked saliva.
1922		‘J.H. Ross’ Mint (1955) 36: He lifted the stock-pot’s lid, and spat in neatly. ‘A gob for his guts.’.
1934		H. Miller Tropic of Cancer (1963) 2: No, this is a prolonged insult, a gob of spit in the face of Art, a kick in the pants to God.
1949		H. Miller Sexus (1969) 205: You finally spit out a gob which completely drains you.
1959		W. Burroughs Naked Lunch (1968) 98: One gob hit the corner of the dancer’s mouth.
1967		I. Rosenthal Sheeper 43: I was [...] a sphinx with a woman’s lips on which I used gobs of pomade.
1977		L. Heinemann Close Quarters (1987) 149: Whiskey j. and I [...] shovelled gobs of muck over him.
1982		P. Barker Union Street 148: The phlegm was the worst thing. Every morning his father brought it up, not in gobs [...] but in one long, sickening stream.
1999		Guardian Rev. 24 Sept. 2: Nor would they accept a single speck of gob.
2013		T. Black Ringer [ebook] n.p.: If he [i.e. a barman] was a Tim I’d be watching for a gob in the pint; they’ve all had the arse rode off them by priests and not to be trusted.

2. a lump, a mouthful.

1599		Nashe Praise of the Red Herring 41: He stept, and pluckt him from his state with a wennion [...] and thrust him downe his pudding house at a gobbe.
1600		Tom Tel-troths Message 41: With gobs she fils and stuffes her greedie gorge.
1611		L. Barry Ram-Alley I i: That little land he gave, Throte the lawyer swallowed in one gob For less than half the worth.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Gob [...] a Bit or Morsel, hence Gobbets, now more in use for little Bits; as a Chop of Meat is a good Cut.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1843		‘Madison Tensas’ Louisiana ‘Swamp Doctor’ (1850) 153: She sunk rite down, an’ begun to siken awful; the cold fride collards began to come up in gobs.
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 46: GOB, a portion.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. [as cit. 1859].
1873		Sl. Dict.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 3 Jan. 11/1: Here are two gobs of glory from the War Cry columns, and we hope we may be struck political if we know whether it is better to laugh or weep on top of them.
1896		G.F. Northall Warwickshire Word-Book 93: Gob. [...] A lump of anything, as ‘Gi’e us a gob o’ rock (sweetstuff)’.
1913		J. London Valley of the Moon (1914) 301: We sit around and gaily pound, /And bear no acrimony, / Because our ob-ject is a gob / Of sizzling abalone.
1920		H.C. Witwer Kid Scanlon 261: We even garnish each loaf with a generous gob of Gazoopis.
1932		(con. 1910s) J.T. Farrell Young Lonigan in Studs Lonigan (1936) 100: Studs got the gob of tobacco out, just in the nick of time.
1959		W. Hall Long and the Short and the Tall Act II: Here, Jock. See’f noisy Harry wants a gob.
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 60: I’d have given her a gob of Flemish.
1983		N. Proffitt Gardens of Stone (1985) 175: If he can make a soldier out of that gob of dog vomit, he deserves a Congressional, too.
1990		J. Healy Streets Above Us (1991) 5: Phlegmbers – urchins that haunt the escalator areas try to outdo each other [...] see how many gobs they can land on passengers’ backs.

3. (UK Und.) a theft carried out by a thief who spits on a man’s coat, alerts him to the problem, then robs him while pretending to ‘help’ him clean up.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 479/2: C.20.

4. one who is typified by their spitting.

5. a lump; thus gobby adj., lumpy.

1905		F. Hutchison Philosophy of Johnny the Gent 65: ‘He’s there wit [...] a gob o' dough to put on it’ [i.e. a bet].
1909		R. Service ‘Lost’ in Ballads of a Cheechako 130: Snow that comes down like feathers, thick and gobby and gray.
1933		B. Ross Tragedy of Z 70: She flipped a gob of ash off the tip of the cigar.
1941		G. Kersh They Die with Their Boots Clean 80: The muscle-factory, you weeds. The muscle-factory, you spineless gobs of calves’-feet jelly, you.
1988		D. Woodrell Muscle for the Wing 55: I patted my middle and my hand clinched around the fringe of a great gob of flab.

6. (UK public school) someone who makes one feel sick.

1946

(con. 1912) B. Marshall George Brown’s Schooldays 17: Look here, you young gob [...] you may be everything in the world to your mater but you make me want to spew.

7. spit.

1966		J. Orton Erpingham Camp (1967) Scene vii: A grown woman came up and spat in my face [...] Gob all over my carnation. Disgusting.
1977		L. Bangs in Psychotic Reactions (1988) 229: Sure there was gob and beercups flung at the bands.

8. see gobshite n. (2)