Play hob with

Posted by ESC on June 13, 2009 at 17:16

In Reply to: Play hob with posted by Scott Stock Gissendanner on June 13, 2009 at 07:45:

: What is the origin of the idiom "to play hob with"?

: The meaning seems clear: to make a mess of. I'm guessing it originates in the meaning of "hob" - a mischievous fairy as in hob goblin. But how old is the phrase? I found it in a book written in 1990.

I think it is a more polite way of saying "play hell with." But I couldn't find a reference that says that. Found this regards "hob":

A hob as in "hobs of hell," around 1900, an "alcove in fire-place to keep contents of utensils warm." Hob, a container for coal, probably from hob-grate, "a grate used to support coal inside a stove." From "Dictionary of American Regional English," Volume II, D-H, by Frederic G. Cassidy and Joan Houston Hall (1991, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., and London, England). Page 1029. Hob 1674, hob shelf at the back or side of a fireplace; alteration of earlier hub or hubbe , of unknown origin. From The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology by Robert K. Barnhart (HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 1995). Page 355.