mob

Definitions

mob is a 17th-century clipping of the Latin phrase mobile vulgus, 'the movable / fickle crowd' — common people who could be stirred and swung this way and that. English chopped off everything but mob, keeping the core idea: a crowd that is unstable and easily moved to anger. So this tiny word is really the mob- (movable) form of the mov root in disguise.

Why It Means This

Mob looks like a plain English word, but it is a fragment of Latin. In the 1600s, writers used the full phrase mobile vulgus ('the fickle common crowd'), then fashionably shortened it to 'mob' — much as 'movie' shortens 'moving picture.' The clipping was once criticized as slang, but it stuck. The thread back to the root is the idea of a crowd that can be 'moved' — pushed, swayed, whipped into a frenzy.

Common Collocations

• 1.angry mob愤怒的暴民
• 2.mob mentality暴民心理
• 3.mob violence暴民暴力
• 4.lynch mob私刑暴徒

Example Sentences

• 1.

  A large [mob] gathered outside the building, demanding changes.

• 2.

  The [mob] became violent when the police arrived unexpectedly.