Bob

It comes around so quickly.  I never know what I will be presented with on Dictionary Day.  Todays’ word is “bob.” (I don’t reckon I could make that up if I tried.)
My first thought for bob was what something does floating on water. “Bob up and down.”  But no.  That is one type of bob but that was not it.  Nor was it bob as in a shilling or as in “Bob’s your uncle.” (just as well really as I don’t know of any uncle Bob I have.)  Nor was it the bob as in a jerky movement.  Like “they are bobbing about.”
No the bob my finger fell on was “a weight on a pendulum.  Plumbline.  For some reason unknown to me it also included the likes of a Bob Cat and “American short tailed lynx.”  And the bob in the hair (I have no experience with that one)
I did look up bob on the web and it listed Bob Jane T Mart so now I have that song in my head.  It also listed the likes of Bob Maley and Bob Dylan.  And of course Bob the builder.  It also listed a place I have never visited and still have not, called “Bobs official website.”
One thing I did see there that had not occurred to me is the bob on a clock.  They vary in weight depending on the unit being measured.  In a grandfather clock keeping one second intervals the bob on the pendulum is often about 2 kilo’s (who knew.  And really who cares but a select few and I am glad they care because they get it right for people like me)
I have used a weight on a pendulum before in determining a straight line.  I find that really good for getting something straight particularly when I have no other source of reference.  I do imagine I will be using one when I fix a garden bed we have.  The bricks that are the edge do seem to obviously meander up and down.
For me, here endeth the lesson.  It need not be the end.  I could explore the subject matter in greater detail.  But really, I am happy to have learned things I did not know, and move on.