bobbing Definition

bob¹
verb bobbed, bobbing

intr
1. To move up and down quickly.

Example: a stick bobbing along on the water
Thesaurus: duck, weave, wobble, jerk, jolt, quiver, falter, swing, oscillate.
Form: bob along (sometimes)
Form: bob past
2. To move (the head) up and down, usually as a greeting.
intr
3. To try to catch (especially an apple floating on water or suspended on a string) with one's teeth, as a game.

Form: bob for something (usually)
intr
4. To make a quick curtsy.

noun

1. A quick up-and-down bouncing movement.
2. A quick curtsy.

Etymology: 14c.

Phrasal Verb: bob up

To appear or reappear suddenly.

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bob²
noun

1. A short hairstyle for women and children, with the hair cut square across the face and evenly all round the head.
2. A hanging weight on a clock's pendulum or plumbline, etc.
3. A bobsleigh. See also bits and bobs at bits and pieces.

verb bobbed, bobbing

1. To cut (hair) in a bob.
2. To dock (a tail).
intr
3. To ride on a bobsleigh.

Etymology: 20c in sense 1 (noun and verb); 14c as bobbe in the original (now dialect) sense ‘a spray, bunch or cluster' (eg of flowers); later used to mean ‘a rounded lump or knob', and hence bobtail.