COO MOB 
our language about 1690, and to have been foon abbre¬ 
viated into mob. T. Brown, he fays, in 1690, ufes both 
the Latin word at length, and the abbreviation 5 and in 
the preface to Cleomejpes, two years afterwards, Dryden 
ufes moh with a kind of apology. Note on Dryden's Pref. 
to Don Sebaltian. Mobile, however, had certainly been 
in ufe long before 1690, as the examples from South and 
L’Eftrange prove. The rabble which attended the parti- 
fans of the earl of Shaftelbury, at the latter end of Charles 
the Second’s reign, are faid by Mr. Toilet to have been 
firft called “ mobile vulgus,” and afterwards by contrac¬ 
tion the mob ; and ever fince the word mob has become pro¬ 
per Englilh. Swift, however, in queen Anne’s reign, 
difiiked the word, and faid he fuppofed we Ihould by-and- 
bye call the nobility the nob.'] The croud; a tumultuous 
rout.—Parts of different fpecies jumbled together, ac¬ 
cording to the mad imagination of the dawber 5 a very 
monlter in a Bartholomew-fair, for the mob to gape at. 
Dryden. —A duller of mob were making tliemfelves merry 
with their betters. Addijbn's Freeholder . 
Dreams are but interludes, which fancy makes. 
When monarch reafon deeps,this mimic wakes: 
Compounds a medley of disjointed things, 
A court of coblers, and a mob of kings. Dryden . 
MOB, f. [from moble. Johnfon.—Rather from the verb 
mob, of which Dr. Johnfon has taken no notice in this 
fenfe. Todd.] A kind of female undrefs for the head.— 
The ordinary morning head-drefs of ladies continued to 
be diftinguilhed by the name of mob, to almoft the end of 
the reign of George the Second. Malone's Note on Hamlet. 
—In the counties of Eflex and Middlefex, this morning- 
cap has always been called a mob, and not a mab. Steevens's 
Note on Hamlet. 
lo MOB, v. a. [adopted perhaps from mab, to drefs 
carelefsly, of which the etymology is uncertain.] To 
■wrap up, as in a veil or cowl; hence the mob-cap of wo¬ 
men.—Swarms of men that went goffipping up and down, 
telling odd llories to the people, as old wives and nurfes 
do to children, having moll of them chins as fmooth as 
y,'omen’s, and their faces mob'd in hoods, and long coats 
like petticoats. More on the Seven Churches, 1669. 
To MOB, v. a. [from the fublt.] To harafs, or over¬ 
bear by tumult. 
MO'BAS, a town of New Mexico, in the province of 
Hiaqui: twenty-live miles fouth-eaft of Riochico. 
MOBARACGUN'GE, a town of Hindooftan, in Oude: 
fourteen miles well of Fyzabad. 
MOB'BERLY, a townlhip of England, in Chelhire: 
four miles north-eaft of Knutsford. 
MOB'BING, f. The aft of haralfmg with noife and tu¬ 
mult ; the aft of going into a mob. 
MOB'BISH, adj. Mean ; done after the manner of the 
mob.—The proceilion was clofed by ten or a dozen peo¬ 
ple, fecmingly officers of dillinftion, who were attended 
by another party of the mcbbijh horfemen. Drummond's 
Travels , 1744.—Mr. Fox treated the affociations for profe- 
cuting thelie libels, as tending to prevent the improve¬ 
ment of the human mind, and as a mobbijh tyranny. 
Burke's Oof. on the Cowl, of the Minority, 1793. 
MOB'BY,./! An American drink made of potatoes. 
MOB'JACK BAY, a bay on the coall qf Virginia, in 
the Chelapeak, north of York River. 
MOB'ILE, /! [Lat. moveable.] Any thing fufceptible of 
motion, or that is difpofed to be moved, either by itfelf or 
bv feme other prior mobile, or mover. 
Primum Mobile, in the ancient altronomy, was a ninth 
heaven or fphere, imagined above thole of the planets 
and fixed liars. This was fuppofed to be the firit mover, 
and to carry all the lower fpheres round along with it; 
by its rapidity communicating to them a motion whereby 
they revolved in twenty-four hours. But the diurnal re¬ 
volution of the planets is now accounted for. w ithout the 
allillance of any fuch primum mobile , or firit mover. 
M O C 
MOB'ILE, f. [mobile, Lat.] The populace; therouf; 
the mob.—The mobile are uneafy without a ruler, they 
are relllefs with one. L'EJlrange. 
MO'BILE, adj. [mobile, Fr.] Movable. Objolcte: 
To treate of any liar 
Fyxt or elfe mobil. Shelton's Poems. 
MOB'ILE, a river of North America, formed by the 
union of feveral conliderable rivers in the Indian coun¬ 
try, north of Well Florida, which empties itfelf into a bay 
of the gulf of Mexico, called Mobile Bay. 
MOB'ILE, an illand of Well Florida, formed by the 
divided llrearn of the river Mobile ; about twenty-fix miles 
long, and five wide. Lat. 31. N. Ion. 87. 55. W. 
MOB'ILE, a city of Well Florida, formerly important 
and fplendid, but now in a Hate of decline. Its figure is 
oblong, and it is fituated on the w r ell bank of the river. 
The Bay of Mobile terminates a little to tlie north-eall of 
the town in marlhes and lagoons, which lubjeft the inha¬ 
bitants to fevers and agues in the hot feafon. The town- 
contains feveral elegant houfes, occupied by French, Eng¬ 
lilh, Scotch, and Irilh. Fort Conde, fituated near the 
bay, towards the lower end of the town, is a regular for- 
trels of brick ; and there is a neat iquare of barracks for 
the officers and foldiers. Mobile, when poffeffed by the 
Englilh, fent yearly to London Ikins and furs to the value 
of from 12 to 15,000!. lterling. It furrenaered to the 
Spanilh forces in 1780. 
MOBILITY, J\ [niobilite, Fr. 1nobilitas, Lat.] The 
pow'er of being moved. Locke. —A rod or bar of iron, 
having Hood long in a window', or ellewhere, being thence 
taken, and by the help of a cork balanced in water, or in 
any other kind of liquid lubllance, where it may have a 
free mobility, will bewray a kind of unquietude. Woolton 
on Education. 
You tell, it is ingenite aftive force. 
Mobility, or native power to move ; 
Words, which mean nothing. Blachmorc. 
Nimblenefs: aftivity.—The Romans had the advantage 
by the bulk of their ffiips, and the fleet of Antiochus in 
the fwiftnefs and mobility of theirs, which lerved them in 
great Head in the flight. Arbuthnot. —The populace.—She 
iingled you out with her eye as commander-in-chief of 
the mobility. Dryden's Don SebaJlian. —Ficklenel’s ; incon- 
llancy. Ainfworth. 
To MO'BLE, v. a. [fometimes written viable, perhaps 
by a ludicrous allufion to the French je m'habille.] To 
wrap up, as in a hood.—The moon does mobile up her- 
felf. Shirley's Gentleman of Venice. 
But who, ah w'oe! hath feen the moiled queen 
Run barefoot up and down. Shahejpeare's Hamlet. 
MO'BLES, f. An old word for movable goods, or fur¬ 
niture. 
MO'BOB GAU'T, a mountain of Bengal: ten miles 
north of Nagore. 
MOCAM'BO, a river of Africa, which runs into the 
Indian Sea fifteen miles feuth of Mozambique. 
MOCANE'RA, J\ in botany. See Vismea mocanera. 
MOCA'RA, a village of Egypt, fituated in a chain of 
mountains, which extend acrols the defert more than 150 
miles eall to weft, in the road from Cairo to Siwah, which 
mountains take their name from the village. It is ninety 
miles weft of Cairo. 
MOCARAN'GA, oeMocara, (millakenly called Mo- 
nomotc.pa, which is the title of the monarch, not the name 
of the country.) An extenfive country of Africa, fitu¬ 
ated at fome diftance from the Indian Sea, between the 28th 
and 36th degrees of eall longitude, and between the 15th 
and 20th degrees of foath latitude: but, if vve take in all 
the other inferior kingdoms which are either lubjeft or 
tributary to it, it wall extend valtly farther; fouthward 
almoft as far as the Cape of Good Hope, and on the north- 
well as far as the confines of the kingdom of Congo 3 for 
