hob

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
hob1

▶noun

• 1 Brit. a cooking appliance, or the flat top part of a cooker, with hotplates or burners.

  ■ a flat metal shelf at the side of a fireplace, used for heating pans.

• 2 a machine tool for cutting gears or screw threads.

• 3 a peg or pin used as a mark in throwing games.

– origin C16 (in sense 3): alt. of hub.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
hob2

▶noun

• 1 a male ferret. Compare with gill4.

• 2 archaic or dialect a hobgoblin.

– phrases
play (or raise) hob N. Amer. cause mischief.

– origin ME (in the sense ‘country fellow’): familiar form of Rob, short for Robin or Robert.