Hubs

[huhb] /hʌb/

noun
1.
the central part of a wheel, as that part into which the spokes are inserted.
2.
the central part or axle end from which blades or spokelike parts radiate on various devices, as on a fan or propeller.
3.
a center around which other things revolve or from which they radiate; a focus of activity, authority, commerce, transportation, etc.:
Chicago is a railroad hub.
4.
the Hub, Boston, Mass. (used as a nickname).
5.
the peg or hob used as a target in quoits and similar games.
6.
any one of the holes in an electrical panel, into which connections may be plugged.
7.
Coining. a design of hardened steel in relief, used as a punch in making a die.
8.
Surveying. a stake bearing a tack used to mark a theodolite position.
9.
Metalworking. a die forced into a metal blank.
verb (used with object), hubbed, hubbing.
10.
Metalworking. to stamp (a metal blank) with a hub.
/hʌb/
noun
1.
the central portion of a wheel, propeller, fan, etc, through which the axle passes
2.
the focal point
3.
(computing) a device for connecting computers in a network
n.

“solid center of a wheel,” 1640s, perhaps from hubbe, originally “lump,” the source of hob of a fireplace and hobnail, as in boots. A wheelwright’s word, not generally known or used until c.1828; it reached wider currency in connection with bicycles. Meaning “center of interest or activity or importance” first recorded 1858 in writings of Oliver W. Holmes, and originally especially of Boston.

“Boston State-House is the hub of the solar system.” [O.W. Holmes, “Autocrat of the Breakfast Table”]

“[E]verybody knows that Boston used to be called the Hub, meaning the hub of the universe. It may still be the hub, because the center of a wheel moves slowly.” [J.P. Marquand, “Life,” March 24, 1941]

hub