The hard central core of an ear of corn; a stocky horse; or a male swan.
From Old English 'cobbe,' possibly meaning head or lump. The word has applied to corn cobs, horses, and swans because of their rounded, sturdy appearance.
Corn cobs used to be burned for fuel and ground into abrasive powder for industrial cleaning—so that part of corn that seems useless actually powered farms and factories for centuries before we invented better materials.
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