mob

n. [ L. mobile vulgus, the movable common people. See Mobile, n. ] 1. The lower classes of a community; the populace, or the lowest part of it. [ 1913 Webster ]

A cluster of mob were making themselves merry with their betters. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence: A throng; a rabble; esp., an unlawful or riotous assembly; a disorderly crowd. [ 1913 Webster ]

The mob of gentlemen who wrote with ease. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob. Madison. [ 1913 Webster ]

Confused by brainless mobs. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A criminal organization or organized criminal gangs, collectively; the Mafia; the syndicate; as, he was a lawyer for the mob. [ PJC ]

Mob law, law administered by the mob; lynch law. --
Swell mob, well dressed thieves and swindlers, regarded collectively. [ Slang ] Dickens. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Mobcap. ] A mobcap. Goldsmith. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To wrap up in, or cover with, a cowl. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Mobbed p. pr. & vb. n. Mobbing. ] To crowd about, as a mob, and attack or annoy; as, to mob a house or a person. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Like a mob; tumultuous; lawless; as, a mobbish act. Bp. Kent. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ D. mop-muts; OD. mop a woman's coif + D. muts cap. ] A plain cap or headdress for women or girls; especially, one tying under the chin by a very broad band, generally of the same material as the cap itself. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. mobile vulgus. See Mobile, a., and cf. 3d Mob. ] The mob; the populace. [ Obs. ] “The unthinking mobile.” South. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. mobilis, for movibilis, fr. movere to move: cf. F. mobile. See Move. ] 1. Capable of being moved; not fixed in place or condition; movable. “Fixed or else mobile.” Skelton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Characterized by an extreme degree of fluidity; moving or flowing with great freedom; as, benzine and mercury are mobile liquids; -- opposed to viscous, viscoidal, or oily. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Easily moved in feeling, purpose, or direction; excitable; changeable; fickle. Testament of Love. [ 1913 Webster ]

The quick and mobile curiosity of her disposition. Hawthorne. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Changing in appearance and expression under the influence of the mind; as, mobile features. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Physiol.) Capable of being moved, aroused, or excited; capable of spontaneous movement. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Capable of moving readily, or moving frequenty from place to place; as, a mobile work force. [ PJC ]

7. Having motor vehicles to permit movement from place to place; as, a mobile library; a mobile hospital. [ PJC ]

n. a form of sculpture having several sheets or rods of a stiff material attached to each other by thin wire or twine in a balanced and artfully arranged tree configuration, with the topmost member suspended in air from a support so that the parts may move independently when set in motion by a current of air. [ 1913 Webster ]