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Glite Dictionary
corn on the cob

corn on the cob

9 1.0
A cooked ear with rows of yellow kernels you eat by holding the ends
  • noun
  • /kɔrn ɑn ðə kɑb/
translation icon : mazorca de maíz
  • At the barbecue, we always serve grilled corn on the cob with butter and salt.
  • grilled corn on the cob
  • eat corn on the cob
  • corn on the cob with butter

I didn't get the corn on the cob, which I'm crushed about.

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Examples

  • The next day we swam in the sea, wandered the boardwalk, ate roasted corn on the cob, and drank beer for breakfast.

    Academic text (2009)

  • They ate their hot rolls, fried chicken, corn on the cob, and mashed potatoes with gravy.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • With corn on the cob and ice cream and everything!

    Pollyanna (1960)

  • Delicious corn on the cob.

    Pollyanna (1960)

  • And you make the world's best corn on the cob.

    Way of the Wicked (2014)

  • OK, so we need corn on the cob and marshmallows.

  • I have seen corn on the cob for sale in the market square in Krakow.

    Academic text (1992)

  • It's served with a corn on the cob and garlic butter, just like a country crawfish boil.

  • Grilled hamburgers, corn on the cob, baked beans.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • There'd be collard greens with bacon, a big pot of hoppin' john, corn on the cob, and fried spoon bread.

    Fiction book (2000)

Synonyms

sugar corn
vscorn on the cob
  • US
2.5

A type of corn with sweet young ears eaten as a vegetable

is served cooked as the whole ear and eaten by holding the ends

Surface Forms

corn on the cob singular
corns on the cob plural

Morphology

corn + on + the + cob

The meaning 'corn cooked and served on the whole ear' is directly and literally built from the constituents 'corn' + 'on' + 'the' + 'cob' — if a learner knows 'cob' as the ear/core of maize they can infer corn served on the cob. This is a concrete, compositional noun + preposition + noun structure that is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the parts will comprehend it.

Etymology

Corn on the cob shows the food: corn still on the hard middle part called the cob, which you hold by the ends and bite the kernels off. So, corn on the cob means 'corn cooked and served on the whole ear'.