corn cob
3
1.3
- noun
- /kɔrn kɑb/
:
mazorca
- What we're going to try to do is put layers of the corn stalks, which is in the blue tarp, and then the corn cobs which is in the green mesh bag.
Something like dried corn husks or dried corn cobs?
- Something like dried corn husks or dried corn cobs?
- And we were eating and we had finished corn on the cob and we had all these, we had all these corn cobs.
Examples
-
Jan fished a baby corn cob from a bowl.
Fiction book (1999) -
After shucking the corn, she placed the empty corn cobs in the compost pile.
-
The husks were peeled off the corn cobs.
Blog text (21) -
There are bite marks in some of the corn cobs; the whole cob was bitten in half.
Blog text (21) -
In the moonlit yard is a corn cob, forever attacked and scratched by hens.
Fiction book (1992) -
Using a corn cob, Seban Fane smooths the upper surface of a vessel to which she has just finished adding coils.
Academic text (1994) -
Anasazi potsherds and prehistoric corn cobs, Navajo National Monument, Arizona.
Academic text (2007) -
The children used the corn cobs as fuel to start the campfire.
-
He carefully stacked the corn cobs to dry them for the winter.
Synonyms
71
7.5
The part of a plant like wheat or corn that holds the grains
20
3.6
The hard central part of an ear of corn where kernels grow
4
3.1
A hard, round center inside an ear of corn that holds the kernels
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun 'corn cob' is a direct, literal combination of 'corn' (maize) and 'cob' (the woody core that holds kernels); the compound refers exactly to that central part. This compositional, cross-linguistically common noun phrase is immediately understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.
Etymology
The noun corn cob comes from a simple picture: corn (the ear) and cob (a hard, rounded part in the middle). So corn cob literally names the hard central piece that holds the kernels, which is how we use it today.