# What is a 'jobation'?

A 'jobation' is a long, tedious scolding — named after the patriarch Job and the tedious rebukes inflicted on him by his friends. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898), human-proofread transcription on English Wikisource records: “Joba′tion. A scolding; so called from the patriarch Job. Jobation . . . means a long, dreary homily, and has reference to the tedious rebukes inflicted on the patriarch Job by his too obliging friends."— G. A. Sala: ( Echoes ), Sept. 6, 1884.”

## What it means

- Verbatim from Brewer's (1898): Joba′tion. A scolding; so called from the patriarch Job. Jobation . . . means a long, dreary homily, and has reference to the tedious rebukes inflicted on the patriarch Job by his too obliging friends."— G. A. Sala: ( Echoes ), Sept. 6, 1884.

## Action steps

1. Modern usage: A 'jobation' is a long, tedious scolding — named after the patriarch Job and the tedious rebukes inflicted on him by his friends.
2. When quoting the origin, cite Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) — this is a 19th-century record, not a modern etymology.

## Sources

- [Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) — Wikisource proofread text](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Brewer%27s_Dictionary_of_Phrase_and_Fable/Jobation)

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