Frob

To manipulate and adjust dials and buttons for fun. From the term "frobnicate," of course.

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1. n. [MIT; very common] The TMRC definition was “FROB = a protruding arm or trunnion”; by metaphoric extension, a frob is any random small thing; an object that you can comfortably hold in one hand; something you can frob (sense 2). See frobnitz.

2. vt. Abbreviated form of frobnicate.

3. [from the MUD world] A command on some MUDs that changes a player's experience level (this can be used to make wizards); also, to request wizard privileges on the ‘professional courtesy’ grounds that one is a wizard elsewhere. The command is actually ‘frobnicate’ but is universally abbreviated to the shorter form.

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The term Frob has typically been used to refer to any small device or object (usually hand-sized) which can be manipulated, or frobbed. It was adopted by the community of computer programmers which grew out of the MIT Tech Model Railroad Club in the 1950s. Frob is among the oldest existing words in hacker jargon, as reported in the Jargon File.

The term can refer both to the object being frobbed ("Hand me that frob there, willya?") indicating the manipulation of a frob or as an actual verb ("Hey, frob the switch.") indicating actual frobbing of an object.

The verb form is also seen as frobnicate, though this is little-used.

See also

• Frotz

External links

• frob at the Jargon File
• frobnicate (vt.) at the Jargon File

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