gobbetnoun/ˈɡɒbɪt/

• 1

  A quantity of liquid, often in a sticky blotch.

  • BOlvs in Engliſh is called a morſell. It is a medicine laxatiue, in forme & faſhion it is meanely whole, & it is ſwallowed by litle gobbets.
  • He balked only when the priest scooped from the pot some of the medicine the woman had prepared and presented it for him to eat. The man shouted and Justin obediently opened his mouth to receive the sticky gobbet of paste.
• 2

  A lump or chunk of something, especially of raw meat.

  • The gobbet – the largest piece of meat served in hash or soup – was about the size of a man's thumb.
  • This bottom was littered with great gobbets of flesh, most of which was in the last state of putridity.
• 3

  An extract of text, or image (especially a quotation), provided as a context for analysis, discussion, or translation in an examination.

  • This new status for primary source material in schools was not a permeation down of the gobbet tradition from undergraduate courses. The gobbet functioned as a prompt to an exposition on the context of the extract — the period, the events, the people and ideas referred to in the gobbet.
  • Gobbets are designed to assess your ability to comment critically upon source material, whether a text or an object. Each gobbet will have at least one specific point that should be addressed/analysed, so always consider why a particular passage/image has been chosen.

gobbetverb/ˈɡɒbɪt/

• 1

  To splash with small quantities of liquid; to spatter.

  • The bullets that hit him […] burst the bared head into splinters. Scalp, bones and brain gobbeted the jeep as the dead boy screwed and fell sideways.
• 2

  To swallow greedily; to swallow in gobbets.

  • Or, did you ever see a dog with a marrowbone in his mouth[…] how prudently he gobbets it: with what affection he breaks it: and with what diligence he sucks it.