frob

Meanings

Noun

• Any small device or object (usually hand-sized) which can be manipulated.

Verb

• To manipulate in some ill-defined way; to tweak or mess about with.
• To perform a task that is clear to the speaker but too complex or tedious to be explained, so that outside help is not helpful.
• To transform and obscure in a trivial fashion with memfrob(3), a frobnication function. A contraction of memfrob(3).

Origin

• , from frobnitz, coined circa 1958 by David R. Sawyer of the MIT Tech Model Railroad Club (TMRC). Year of origin uncertain, and could be 1958–1981: frob is not listed in the TMRC dictionaries of 1959 or 1960,Peter Samson, June 1959 (with 2005 commentary),
• late summer/early fall 1960 (with 2005 commentary) and is first listed in the Jargon File (1981 edition), so it may date from the 1960s or 1970s. Possibly variant of or influenced by frotsus, which is listed in TMRC 1959 and 1960.