a large group or crowd, esp when disorderly or riotous
(the mob) the masses; the populace
chiefly Brit, informal a particular group or class of people
(usu the Mob) chiefly NAmer the Mafia or a similarly organized criminal gang
chiefly Aus a flock, drove, or herd of animals
now Aus a vast number or amount
The broadening waters flowed through a mob of wooded islands — Joseph Conrad
short for earlier mobile, from Latin mobile vulgus fickle crowd. The term was first applied to people by members of the Green Ribbon Club, a late 17th-cent. political club