mob

1. "disorderly part of the population, rabble," slang shortening of mobile, mobility "common people, populace, rabble"。

mob 暴民，黑帮

缩写自拉丁语mobile vulgus,被煽动的民众，引申词义暴民，黑帮。

mob

mob: [17] Mob is famous as one of the then new ‘slang’ abbreviations against which Joseph Addison and Jonathan Swift inveighed at the beginning of the 18th century (others included pozz for positively and rep for reputation). Mob was short for mobile, which itself was a truncated form of mobile vulgus, a Latin phrase meaning ‘fickle crowd’. Latin mōbilis ‘movable’, hence metaphorically ‘fickle’ (source of English mobile [15]), came from the base of the verb movēre ‘move’ (source of English move).
=> mobile, move

mob (v.)

"to attack in a mob," 1709, from mob (n.). Meaning "to form into a mob" is from 1711. Related: Mobbed; mobbing.

mob (n.)

1680s, "disorderly part of the population, rabble," slang shortening of mobile, mobility "common people, populace, rabble" (1670s, probably with a conscious play on nobility), from Latin mobile vulgus "fickle common people" (the phrase attested c. 1600 in English), from mobile, neuter of mobilis "fickle, movable, mobile" (see mobile (adj.)). In Australia and New Zealand, used without disparagement for "a crowd." Meaning "gang of criminals working together" is from 1839, originally of thieves or pick-pockets; American English sense of "organized crime in general" is from 1927.

The Mob was not a synonym for the Mafia. It was an alliance of Jews, Italians, and a few Irishmen, some of them brilliant, who organized the supply, and often the production, of liquor during the thirteen years, ten months, and nineteen days of Prohibition. ... Their alliance -- sometimes called the Combination but never the Mafia -- was part of the urgent process of Americanizing crime. [Pete Hamill, "Why Sinatra Matters," 1998]

Mob scene "crowded place" first recorded 1922.

1. An unruly mob broke down police barricades and stormed the courtroom.

一伙暴徒捣毁了警察设置的路障冲进法庭。

2. Bottles and cans were hurled on the terraces by the mob.

暴徒向看台扔瓶子和罐子。

3. A mob of women laid into him with handbags and pointed shoes.

一帮女人用手提包砸他，用鞋尖踢他。

4. They have been exercising what amounts to mob rule.

他们一直在实行相当于暴政的统治。

5. The inspectors watched a growing mob of demonstrators gathering.

督察们看见越来越多愤怒的示威者聚集到一起。

【mob, through, masses, crowd, people】
这组词都有“人们，人群”的意思，其区别是：
mob: 含贬义，指乌合之众、暴民。
through: 与crowd含义很接近，常可换用，但侧重指向前运动的群众。
masses: 指群众或平民，在西方国家含贬义，在我国含褒义。
crowd: 本义指一大群紧紧聚集在一起的人群，现指群众整体，由个体结合的人群或大众。
people: 最普通用词，不带任何色彩，泛指不确定数量的人们。

【band, mob, masses, gang, swarm, group, throug, crowd】
这组词都有“群，帮，伙”的意思，其区别是：
band: 多指一群有明确宗旨，为共同目的而结合在一起的人，常含贬义。
mob: 指无组织、乱七八糟凑合在一起的乌合之众，或指聚集在一起寻衅滋事的人群，多为暴徒。
masses: 指群众或人民大众。
gang: 常指从事非法、暴力或敌对活动的帮派或团伙。有时呈中性，词义同group。
swarm: 指人数众多，杂乱无章，不停移动的一群人。
group: 普通用词，通常指有组织、有秩序的一群人，也可指无意汇集在一起的一群人。
throug: 书面用词，意义接近crowd，侧重密集地挤在一起的一群，含挤在一起向前推进之意。
crowd: 常指无组织地乱哄哄地挤在一起的人群。

【people, masses, crowd, throng, mob】
这些名词均有“人们，人群”之意。
people: 最普通用词，不带任何色彩，泛指不确定数量的人们。
masses: 指群众或平民，在西方国家含贬义，在我国含褒义。
crowd: 本义指一大群紧紧聚集在一起的人群，现指群众整体，由个体结合的人群或大众。
through: 与crowd含义很接近，常可换用，但侧重指向前运动的群众。
mob: 含贬义，指乌合之众、暴民。