_A Cob-wall_ (Vol. viii., p. 151.).--A "cob" is not an unusual word in the
midland counties, meaning a lump or small hard mass of anything: it also
means a blow; and a good "cobbing" is no unfamiliar expression to the
generality of schoolboys. A "cob-wall," I imagine, is so called from its
having been made of heavy lumps of clay, beaten one upon another into the
form of a wall. I would ask, if "gob," used also in Devonshire for the
stone of any fruit which contains a kernel, is not a cognate word?