lob

/lɑb/

/lɒb/

Other forms: lobed; lobbed; lobs; lobbing

When you lob something, you throw it up very high. If you lob a baseball from the outfield to the pitcher, you hurl it in an arc that ends right where the pitcher can catch it.

If you propel an object in an arc, you lob it. For example, a soldier might lob a missile at the enemy. Tennis players can lob a ball by hitting it up and over the net. Today the noun lob means a throw (or hit) that follows an arc, but in the 14th century a lob was a "lazy lout," and in the 16th century it was "a lumpish thing."

Definitions of lob

1. verb

   propel in a high arc
   “lob the tennis ball”

   type of:

   throw

   propel through the air
2. noun

   the act of propelling something (as a ball or shell etc.) in a high arc
   type of:

   actuation, propulsion

   the act of propelling
3. noun

   an easy return of a tennis ball in a high arc
   type of:

   return

   a tennis stroke that sends the ball back to the other player