lobe

Etymology

From Middle French lobe in early 16th century, from New Latin lobus (“a lobe”), from Ancient Greek λοβός (lobós, “the lobe of the ear or of the liver, the pod of a leguminous plant”).

noun

1. Any projection or division, especially one of a somewhat rounded form. [from 19th c.]
   A lobe of lava was crawling down the side of the volcano.
   He then broke the kola nut and threw one of the lobes on the ground for the ancestors. 1958, Chinua Achebe, chapter 19, in Things Fall Apart, London: William Heinemann
2. (anatomy) A clear division of an organ that can be determined at the gross anatomy level, especially one of the parts of the brain, liver or lung. [from 16th c.]
   The yawning gap in neuroscientists’ understanding of their topic is in the intermediate scale of the brain’s anatomy. Science has a passable knowledge of how individual nerve cells, known as neurons, work. It also knows which visible lobes and ganglia of the brain do what. But how the neurons are organised in these lobes and ganglia remains obscure. 2013-08-03, “The machine of a new soul”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847
3. (figure skating) A semicircular pattern left on the ice as the skater travels across it. [from 20th c.]