BOB, a "call" employed in bell-ringing to signify an alteration of the "coursing order" or order in which the bells are being rung.
The origin of the term is unknown, but it may have been adopted as a short, sharp word, easily uttered by the "conductor" and easily recognized by the ringers. (Cf. the term "Hopp!" employed for a similar purpose by Jaques-Dalcroze in his Eurhythmics.) Or, as applied to a "method" or system of ringing, it may refer to the evolution of "dodging"; but this is only surmise, as none of the old writers on thy, subject attempts to explain it.
"Bob" is also used to signify abridgement or shortening, as in the case of a bob-tailed horse or, in more recent times, the "bobbed" hair of a woman.