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Bob vs Rather - What's the difference?

bob | rather |

As a noun bob

is broad bean, horse bean.

As an adverb rather is

(obsolete) more quickly; sooner, earlier.

As a verb rather is

(nonstandard|or|dialectal) to prefer; to prefer to.

As an adjective rather is

(obsolete) prior; earlier; former.

bob

English

Etymology 1

Verb

(bobb)
  • To move gently and vertically, in either a single motion or repeatedly up and down, at or near the surface of a body of water.
    • The cork bobbed gently in the calm water.
    The ball, which we had thought lost, suddenly bobbed up out of the water.
  • To move (something) as though it were bobbing in water.
    • I bobbed my head under water and saw the goldfish.
    bob''' one's head'' (= to ' nod )
  • To curtsy.
  • To strike with a quick, light blow; to tap.
  • * Elyot
    • He was suddenly bobbed on the face by the servants.
    Derived terms
    * bobber * bob for apples * bob up

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A bobbing motion.
    • a bob of the head
  • A bobber.
  • * Lauson
    • Or yellow bobs turn'd up before the plough / Are chiefest baits, with cork and lead enough.
  • A curtsy.

    • Etymology 2

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A bob haircut.
  • Any round object attached loosely to a flexible line, a rod, a body part etc., so that it may swing when hanging from it
  • * 1773 ,
    • Ecod! I have got them. Here they are. My cousin Con's necklaces, bobs and all.
  • The dangling mass of a pendulum or plumb line.
  • The docked tail of a horse.
  • A short line ending a stanza of a poem.
  • The short runner of a sled.
  • A small wheel, made of leather, with rounded edges, used in polishing spoons, etc.
  • A working beam in a steam engine.
  • A particular style of ringing changes on bells.
  • A blow; a shake or jog; a rap, as with the fist.
  • (obsolete) A knot or short curl of hair; also, a bob wig.
  • * Shenstone
    • A plain brown bob he wore.
  • (obsolete) The refrain of a song.
  • * L'Estrange
    • To bed, to bed, will be the bob of the song.
  • (obsolete) A jeer; a sharp jest or taunt.
  • * Shakespeare
    • He that a fool doth very wisely hit, / Doth very foolishly, although he smart, / Not to seem senseless of the bob .

    Verb

    (bobb)
  • To cut (hair) into a bob haircut.
    • I got my hair bobbed . How do you like it?
  • To shorten by cutting; to dock; to crop
  • Short form of bobsleigh

    • Etymology 3

    Noun

    (bob)
  • A shilling.
  • * , Episode 12, The Cyclops
    • One of the bottlenosed fraternity it was went by the name of James Wought alias Saphiro alias Spark and Spiro, put an ad in the papers saying he'd give a passage to Canada for twenty bob .
  • :1933 , (George Orwell), (Down and Out in Paris and London) , xxix
  • ::‘’Ere]] s for the trousers, one and a tanner for the boots, and a [['og, ’og for the cap and scarf. That’s seven bob.’
  • * 1960 , , (Jeeves in the Offing) , chapter XVII
  • A 10-cent coin.
  • (slang) An unspecified amount of money.
  • * Spot me a few bob , Robert.
    • Derived terms
    * bob-a-job * bent as a nine-bob note * two-bob bit
    Usage notes
    * The use of bob for shilling is dated slang in the UK and Australia, since decimalisation. In East African countries where the currency is the shilling, it is current usage, and not considered slang. OED gives first usage as 1789. * The use of bob to describe a 10-cent coin is derived from the fact that it was of equal worth to a shilling during decimalisation, however since then, the term has slowly dropped out of usage and is seldom used today.

    Etymology 4

    Noun

    (en noun)

    • Etymology 5

    (blitter) (object)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (computer graphics) A graphical element, resembling a hardware sprite, that can be blitted around the screen in large numbers.
  • * 1986 , Eugene P Mortimore, Amiga programmer's handbook, Volumes 1-2
    • The bob list determines the drawing priority...
  • * 1995 , "John Girvin", Blitting bobs'' (on Internet newsgroup ''comp.sys.amiga.programmer )
    • IMHO, youd (SIC) be better doing other things with the CPU and letting the blitter draw bobs , esp on a machine with fast ram.
  • * 2002 , "demoeffects", Demotized 0.0.1 - A collection of demo effects from the early days of the demo scene.'' (on Internet newsgroup ''fm.announce )
    • Changes: This release adds 2 new effects (bobs and unlimited bobs), has a GFX directory for sharing graphics, adds utility functions to the common code...
    Derived terms
    * shadebob

    Anagrams

    * English palindromes ----

    rather

    English

    Adverb

    (-)
  • (obsolete) More quickly; sooner, earlier.
  • Used to specify a choice or preference; preferably. (Now usually followed by than )
  • *
    • Firstly, I continue to base most species treatments on personally collected material, rather than on herbarium plants.
  • (conjunctive) Used to introduce a contradiction; on the contrary.
  • (conjunctive) Introducing a qualification or clarification; more precisely. (Now usually preceded by or .)
  • * 1897 , (Henry James), (What Maisie Knew) :
    • What the pupil already knew was indeed rather taken for granted than expressed, but it performed the useful function of transcending all textbooks and supplanting all studies.
  • * 1898, J. A. Hamilton, ", Volume LIV: Stanhope–Stovin , The MacMillan Company, page 60,
    • His ‘Iliad’ is spirited and polished, and, though often rather a paraphrase than a translation, is always more truly poetic than most of the best translations.
  • * , chapter=12
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill.
  • (degree) Somewhat, fairly.

    • Usage notes

    * (somewhat) This is a non-descriptive qualifier'', similar to quite and fairly and somewhat. It is used where a plain adjective needs to be modified, but cannot be qualified. When spoken, the meaning can vary with the tone of voice and stress. "''He was rather big''" can mean anything from "not small" to "huge" (meiosis with the stress on ''rather ).

    Synonyms

    * liever, liefer, as lief * (to a certain extent) somewhat, fairly, quite

    Antonyms

    * (somewhat) utterly

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (nonstandard, or, dialectal) To prefer; to prefer to.
  • * 1984 , Bruce Brooks, The Moves Make the Man :
    • Until just before the pie was popped into the heat. A few of them suddenly realized who put that gorgeous hunk of crackers together, and gaped. We grinned back, but very cool. The ones who knew said nothing, rathering to die than let on they had been hustled by two negative dudes.
  • * 2002 , Sarah Waters, Fingersmith :
    • It was a plain brown dress, more or less the colour of my hair; and the walls of our kitchen being also brown, when I came downstairs again I could hardly be seen. I should have rathered a blue gown, or a violet one
  • * 2002 , Elizabeth Bowen, The Heat of the Day :
    • So you must excuse my saying anything I did: all it was, that up to the very last I had understood us all to be friendly — apart, that is, from his rathering me not there. How was I to know he would flash out so wicked?
  • * 2007 , Mikel Schaefer, Lost in Katrina , page 323:
    • "That was a killer," said Chris. "I'd rathered' die in St. Bernard than spent one minute over there. I would have ' rathered the storm, shaking with the wind and rain hitting in the boat for an eternity than spending any time there.

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (obsolete) Prior; earlier; former.
  • * Sir J. Mandeville
    • Now no man dwelleth at the rather town.

    Statistics

    * English conjunctive adverbs English degree adverbs