1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth III. 70 The Gazelles, of which there are several kinds... The fifth he calls the Koba, and the sixth the kob.

1834 Penny Cycl. II. 79/2 The Kob (A[ntilope] koba, Erxleben) called Petite Vache brune, or little brown cow, by the French settlers on the western coast of Africa, is described as being about the size of the fallow-deer.

1850 Proc. Zool. Soc. 133 It is called Dacoi, or White Mouth, by the Mandingoes, Kob and Koba by the Joliffs.

1897 P. L. Sclater & M. R. O. Thomas Bk. Antelopes II. vii. 139 The first specimen of the Kob Antelope that reached Europe alive, so far as we know, was that presented to the Zoological Society of London by Mr. John Foster in 1836.

1897 P. L. Sclater & M. R. O. Thomas Bk. Antelopes II. vii. 140 From Senegal and the Gambia and Kob extends through the interior of West Africa to Togoland.

1920 Blackwood's Mag. May 656/2 The tawny Uganda cob, a very handsome antelope.

1961 Listener 7 Sept. 348/2 The host of antelopes, such as..impala, cob, kudu, and a score more.

1964 C. Willock Enormous Zoo iv. 40 The kob... To look at, this lovely creature with the back-raked horns is a little like a larger version of the impala... In fact its nearest relative is the large, shaggy, big-horned waterbuck.

1964 G. B. Schaller Year of Gorilla iii. 60 Rwindi, near the southern end of Lake Edward, is the only place with regular tourist accommodations within the park. And it is the central location from which to see the herds of buffalo, elephant, hippopotamus, waterbuck, kob antelope.

1967 Listener 6 Apr. 459/2 Among the Ugandan kob males may defend small territories... By tradition a certain number of kob are associated with each breeding ground.

1974 Nature 29 Nov. 345/3 In the Uganda kob antelope there exists a system of social behaviour designed to prevent clandestine matings.

1906 East London Daily Dispatch (S. Afr.) 26 June 3/7 Our well-known and very common kabeljaauw, called for briefness ‘cob’ or ‘kob’.

1913 W. W. Thompson Sea Fisheries Cape Colony 155 Kabeljaauw..; Cob or Kob (East London).

1930 C. L. Biden Sea-angling Fishes of Cape v. 108 Kabeljou; Kob (abbreviated name).

1950 Cape Times 17 Nov. 13/8 Kob are well worth a try from the usual spots around the sandy sweep of the bay.

1959 Cape Times 16 Nov. 2/5 Visitor Lands Big Kob.

1974 South-Western Herald (S. Afr.) 2 July 5 ‘I am now after kob,’ said Mr. Thomson.

1930 C. L. Biden Sea-angling Fishes of Cape v. 113 On the south-east coast particularly they keep a watchful eye on what is known as ‘kob-water’—a discoloration of the sea, either milky, dirty yellow, or what one would liken to pea soup.

1957 S. Schoeman Strike! iii. 71 Kob-water usually results from a disturbance of the seabed.

1974 Argus (Cape Town) 31 Dec. 4/2 The familiar, ginger-beer coloured water known to anglers as ‘kob water’ is moving in along parts of the Strandfontein coast-line.