sob

«sob» in Mova's school dictionary: verb: To cry noisily, with short sharp breaths — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (sob, sobs, sobbed, sobbing); noun (a sob, sobs); abbreviation (SOB — rude, US)

meaning for a pupil

1) verb: To cry noisily, with short sharp breaths. tree →

2) noun: The sound of loud crying. tree →

3) «sob story» (informal): a sad story told to make people feel sorry for you, maybe to get something. tree →

4) SOB (rude, US slang): short for a swear insult; not for school. tree →

sense in the lessons

In stories, sobbing shows deep sadness, fear or relief (more than crying quietly). «Sob your heart out» means cry a lot. «Sob story» shows suspicion that someone is exaggerating. Phrases: «sob loudly», «sob your heart out», «between sobs», «sob story».

examples

• The little boy sobbed when he lost his balloon. tree →
• She sobbed her heart out when her hamster died. tree →
• «I can't find my mum,» he said between sobs. tree →
• We heard sobs from the next room. tree →
• He told the teacher a sob story about why his homework was late. tree →
• The audience sobbed at the sad ending. tree →
• ‘O Kay, my little Kay!’ sobbed Gerda. tree →

note

Past «sobbed», «sobbing» (double b). Similar: cry, weep (formal), wail (loud), whimper (quiet). Capital «SOB» is a rude US abbreviation — avoid.

In the corpora

• The Gryphon thumps the sobbing Mock Turtle: «Same as if he had a bone in his throat.»
• When the sobs calm down, the Rat simply gets up and walks back the way they came.
• Toad sobs «Let me go out and find them, out into the cold, dark night...

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «sob» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.