Chapter C (2)

=claw,= to stroke; hence, to flatter. Drayton, Pol. xiii. 186; Marston, Antonio, Pt. II, i. 1 (Piero); Much Ado, i. 3. 18. Phr. _claw me, I’ll claw thee_, ‘We saye, clawe me, clawe thee’, Tyndal, Expos. John (ed. 1537, 72), see NED.; _to claw the back_, to flatter, Hall, Sat. i. prol. 11. ‘Claw’ means to flatter in Leic. and Warw., see EDD. (s.v. Claw, vb. 7).

=clawback,= one who strokes the back; a flatterer; ‘These flattering clawbackes’, Latimer, 2 Sermon bef. King, p. 64; Mirror for Mag., Iago, st. 6; ‘_Blandisseur_, a flattering sycophant or clawback’, Cotgrave. So in north Yorks. and Leic., see EDD. (s.v. Claw, vb. 10 (b)).

=clear,= very drunk. (Cant.) Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, iv. 1 (Belfond Senior).

=cleave the pin;= see =pin.=

=cleaze;= see =clee.=

=clee,= a claw; ‘_Pied d’un cancre_, the clee or claw of a crab’, Cotgrave; ‘The clee of a bittor’, Turbervile, Falconrie, 349; _cleaze_ pl., Phaer, tr. Aeneid, viii. 209; Studley, Seneca’s Hercules, 206 b (NED.). See EDD. (s.v. Clee). ME. _cle_, ‘ungula’ (Cath. Angl.). OE. _clēa_. Cp. =cleye.=

=cleeves,= cliffs; ‘Dover’s neighbouring cleeves’, Drayton, Pol. xviii; Greene, Friar Bacon, i. 1. 62. ME. _clefe_ of an hyll, ‘declivum’ (Prompt.). Due to OE. _cleofu_, the plural form, or to _cleofe_, the dat. of _clif_. ‘Cleeve’ is very common in place-names in the west of England: Cleeve (Clyffe Pypard) in Wilts.; Church Cleves in Dorset; Old Cleeve, Huish Cleeve, Bitter Cleeve in Somerset.

=clem,= to starve for want of food. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, iii. 1 (Shift); Poetaster, i. 1 (Tucca). To ‘clem’ (or to ‘clam’) is the ordinary word for starving in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Clam, vb.^{2} 1). The lit. meaning of _clam_ (_clem_) is ‘to pinch’, still used in this sense in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Clam, vb.^{1} 1. Cp. Dan. _klemme_, Sw. _klämma_, to pinch.

=clench, clinch,= a pun. Dryden, Mac Flecknoe, 83; Prologue to Tr. and Cr. (1679), 27.

=clenchpoop,= a lout, a clown; a term of contempt. Warner, Albion’s England; bk. vi, ch. xxxi, st. 22; _clinchpoop_, or _clenchpoop_, Three Ladies of London, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 256.

=clepe,= to call. L. L. L. v. 1. 24; Hamlet, i. 4. 19. The pp. is spelt _cleeped_ in Chapman, Gent. Usher, ii. 1 (Pogio); the usual form is the archaic _y-clept_, spelt _y-clep’d_ in Milton, L’Allegro, 12. OE. _clipian_, _cleopian_, to call; pp. _ge-cleopod_.

=clergion,= a young songster, _fig._ of birds. Surrey, Description Restless State, 22; Poems, 72; in Tottel’s Misc. 231. ME. _clergeon_, a chorister (Chaucer, C. T. B. 1693). F. _clergeon_.

=clergy,= clerkly skill, learning. Proverb, ‘An Ounce of Mother-Wit is worth a Pound of Clergy (or Book-learning)’, see NED.; Middleton, Family of Love, iii. 3 (Purge). The privilege of exemption from sentence which might be pleaded by every one who could read; ‘Stand to your clergy, uncle, save your life’, Munday, Death Huntington, i. 3, in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii. 244. _Clergy of belly_, respite claimed by a pregnant woman. Butler, Hudibras, iii. 1. 884. ME. _clergy_: ‘Lewdnesse of clergy, _illiteratura_’ (Prompt. EETS., 261).

=cleye,= a claw. Marlowe, tr. Lucan, bk. i, l. 36 from end; B. Jonson, Underwoods, Eupheme, ix. 18; ‘The cleyes of a lobster’, Skinner (1671). ‘Cley’ is an E. Anglian word, see EDD. (s.v. Clee). ME. _cley_ of a beast, ‘ungula’ (Prompt. EETS., 85, see note, no. 383). Cp. =clee.=

=clicket,= to be _maris appetens_, to copulate. Massinger, Picture, iii. 4 (Eubulus); Beaumont and Fl., Hum. Lieutenant, ii. 4 (Leontius); Tusser, Husbandry, § 77. 9. As a hunting term, it had reference to the fox and the wolf; see Turbervile, Hunting, c. 66, p. 186; c. 75, p. 205.

=cliffe,= a clef, key, in music. Tr. and Cr. v. 2. 11; Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 1. 159. F. _clef_.

=clift,= a cliff. Greene, Orl. Fur. i. 1. 79; p. 90, col. 1; _clifte_, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 23. The E. Anglian form (EDD.).

=clighte;= see =clitch.=

=Clim of the Clough,= a proverbially famous archer. Clement of the Glen, in the ballad of Adam Bell. Gascoigne, Flowers, ed. Hazlitt, i. 72; B. Jonson, Alchemist, i (Face). _Clem a Clough_, Drayton, Pastorals, vi. 36.

=clinch;= see =clench.=

=cling,= to cause to shrink, shrivel; ‘Till famine cling thee’, Macbeth, v. 5. 40. Cp. prov. use in Ireland and in the north of England, where the word means to wither, contract, also, of cattle, to become thin from want of proper food, see EDD. (s.v. Cling, vb.^{1} 4). ME. _clyngyn_, to shrink, to shrivel (Prompt.). OE. _clingan_, ‘marcere’ (Ælfric).

=clip,= to embrace. Wint. Tale, v. 2. 59; Coriolanus, i. 6. 29; iv. 5. 115. Still in use in various parts of England (EDD.). ME. _clippen_ (Chaucer, Tr. and Cr. lii. 1344). OE. _clyppan_.

=clip,= to go fast, to run swiftly. Dryden, Annus Mirab. 86. A Suffolk use; see EDD. (s.v. Clip, vb.^{2} 11).

=clipped,= uttered aloud; ‘Thy clipped name’, Middleton, The Witch, ii. 2 (near the end). See =clepe.=

=clips, clyps,= ‘eclipse’. Berners, tr. of Froissart, ch. 130. Common in the north (EDD.). ME. _Clypps_ of þe son or þe mone, ‘eclipsis’ (Prompt.).

=clitch,= to bend, clench (the fist). Hellowes, Guevara’s Fam. Ep. 145 (NED.); _clighte_, pp., Bossewell, Armorie, ii. 119^{b}. Cp. the west country _clitch_, to grasp tightly (EDD.). OE. _clycchan_, pp. _geclyht_.

=clogdogdo,= a term of contempt. B. Jonson, Silent Woman, iv. 1 (Otter). A nonce-word.

=close fight,= a sea term; a kind of screen used in a naval engagement. Marston, Antonio, Pt. I, i. 1 (Antonio). See =fights.=

=closh, clash,= the name of an old game, played with a ball or bowl. Spelt _claisshe_, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 27, § 8. See Cowell’s Interpreter and Strutt’s Sports. _Closh_ was orig. the name of the bowl. Du. _klos_, a wooden Boule (Hexham).

=closure,= bound, limit, circuit. Richard III, iii. 3. 11; an entrenchment, fortress, Greene, Looking Glasse (ed. 1861, p. 123); Surrey, tr. Aeneid, ii. 296. OF. _closure_, confine, limits (Dialoge Greg., 74); Late L. _clausura_, a castle, fort (Justinian).

=clote,= the yellow water-lily; _Nuphar lutea_. Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, ii. 2. 12. Still in use in the south-west of England, see EDD. (s.v. Clote, (1)). OE. _clāte_, which was the name of various plants resembling the burdock, see NED.

=clottered,= clotted. Mirror for Mag., Buckingham, st. 14; _‘Congrée_, congealed, clottered’, Cotgrave. Du. _kloteren_, or _klonteren_, ‘to curdle or growe thick as milke doth’ (Hexham). See =cluttered.=

=clout,= a piece of cloth or linen, a rag. Hamlet, ii. 2. 537; Richard III, i. 3. 177; hence, _clouted_, patched, BIBLE, Joshua ix. 5. In prov. use, esp. in the north, see EDD. (s.v. Clout, sb.^{1} 3).

=clout,= a square piece of canvas, which formed the mark to be aimed at, at the archery butts, L. L. L. iv. 1. 138; 2 Hen. IV, iii. 2. 52.

=clout,= to cuff heavily, BIBLE, 2 Sam. xxii. 39; _clouted_, pp. hit, Beaumont and Fl., Hum. Lieutenant, iii. 7. 1. In gen. vulgar use, see EDD. (s.v. Clout, vb.^{2} 1).

=clouted;= of cream: clotted, by scalding milk. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Nov., 99; Borde, Dyetarie, 267. A Devon word (EDD.).

=clowre,= grassy surface, turf. In pl. _clowres_; Golding, Metam. iv. 301. (L. _cespite_); viii. 756 (L. _terram_). ME. _clowre_, grassy ground (Lydgate).

=cloy,= to prick a horse with a nail in shoeing; ‘I cloye a horse, I drive a nayle in to the quycke of his foote, _jencloue_’, Palsgrave; to pierce as with a nail, to gore, Spenser, F. Q. iii. 6. 48; to spike a gun, Beaumont and Fl., The False One, v. 4 (Photinus). OF. _cloyer_ (F. _clouer_), to nail, deriv. of OF. _clo_ (F. _clou_), a nail.

=cloyer,= a pick-pocket’s accomplice. (Cant.) Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Moll). See Nares.

=cloyne,= a clown, rustic. Mirror for Mag., Rivers, st. 44. The word _clown_ (_cloyne_) was a late introduction from some Low German source, originally meaning ‘clod, lump’, see NED.

=cloyne, cloine,= to act deceitfully or fraudulently. Bale, Sel. Wks. (ed. 1849, p. 170 (NED.)); to take furtively, to steal away, Phaer, tr. Aeneid, vi. 524; vii. 364. Probably the same word as OF. _cluigner_, _clugner_, _cluyner_ (F. _cligner_), to wink, often as the expression of secret understanding, cunning, or hypocrisy. See NED.

=club,= a country fellow; ‘Homely and playn clubbes of the countrey’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Philip, § 14; ‘Hertfordshire clubs and clouted shoon’, Ray, Eng. Proverbs, 310. Cp. ME. _clubbyd_, ‘rudis’ (Prompt.).

=clubfist,= a thick-fisted ruffian. Mirror for Magistrates, Sabrine, st. 10.

=clubs!= A popular cry to call out the London apprentices, who had clubs for their weapons; also, a cry to call out citizens; as in Romeo, i. 1. 80. There are frequent allusions to this cry; ‘Cry _clubs_ for prentices’, Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, v. 2 (All).

=clunch,= a clodhopper; ‘_Casois_, a countrey clown, boore, clunch, hinde’, Cotgrave. In prov. use in Cumberland, Lancashire, and E. Yorks. (EDD.). See NED.

=clunch,= to clench; ‘His fist is clunched’, Earle, Microcosmographie, § 20; ed. Arber, p. 41.

=clunged,= drawn together by the action of cold; ‘By the Northern winds . . . clunged and congealed withall’, Holland, Pliny, i. 513; ‘The Earth made clunged with the cold of winter’, B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb. (NED.).

=cluttered,= clotted. Marston, Antonio, Pt. II, i. 2 (Alberto); ‘_Engrommelé_, clotted, cluttered, curded thick’, Cotgrave. In prov. use in Cheshire and Shropshire (EDD.). See =clottered.=

=cly= (thieves’ cant), to seize, take; to steal (NED.). Phr. _to cly the Jerk_, to be whipped, B. Jonson, Gipsies Metamorphosed (Jackman); Harman, Caveat, p. 84. In Lower Rhenish dialect _klauen_ (_kläuen_, _kleuen_) is used in the sense of ‘steal’. See NED.

=coals:= phr. _to carry coals_, to be very servile, to submit to insults. Romeo, i. 1. 2. See =colcarrier.=

=coal-sleck,= coal-dust. Drayton, Pol. iii. 280. Cp. prov. E. _sleck_, slack, small coal.

=coart,= to confine, restrain; ‘Streatly coarted’, Skelton, Why come ye not, 438; Sir T. Elyot, Governour, i. 138. L. _co-arctare_, to compress, from _arctus_, close.

=coast, cost=(=e,= the side. Spenser, M. Hubberd, 294; the border, frontier of a country, BIBLE, Mark vii. 31; Judges i. 18; phr. _on even coast_, on even terms, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 17. OF. _coste_ (F. _côte_).

=coast,= to keep by the side of a person moving. Fletcher and Rowley, Maid Mill, i. 1; to march on the flank of, Berners, Froissart, i. 40. 55; to move in a roundabout course, _fig._ Hen. VIII, iii. 2. 38; to skirt, Milton, P. L. iv. 782; spelt _cost_, to approach, Spenser, Daphnaida, st. 6; Venus and Adonis, 870.

=coat;= see =cote.=

=coat-card,= a playing card bearing a ‘coated’ figure (king, queen, or knave). In regular use till the Revolution, 1688; afterwards perverted into _Court-card_. B. Jonson, Staple of News, iv. 1 (Madrigal). Also, _coat_, Massinger, Old Law, iii. 1 (Cook); B. Jonson, New Inn, i. 1.

=coath,= to faint, to swoon away. Skinner, 1671 (a Lincoln word); ‘To coath (swoon away), _Animo linqui, deficere_’, Coles, 1679. ‘Coath’ is still used in this sense in E. Anglia (EDD.). ME. _cothe_, or swownyng, ‘sincopa’ (Prompt.). OE. _coðu_, disease; cp. _coe_, a word for a disease of sheep, cattle in W. Somerset, see EDD. (s.v. Coe, sb.^{1} 1). See =quoth.=

=cob,= the head of a red herring. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II. (Wks., 1873, ii. 147); ‘A herring cob, _la teste d’un harang sor_’, Sherwood.

=cob, cobbe,= a wealthy man; a miser; ‘Ryche cobbes’, Udall, tr. of Apoph., Diogenes, § 149; Stubbes, Anat. Abuses, ii. 27 (NED.).

=cobbe,= a male swan; ‘The hee swanne is called the cobbe, and the she-swanne the penne’, Best, Farm. Bks. (ed. 1856, p. 122). Hence _cob-swan_, B. Jonson, Catiline, ii. 1 (Fulvia). ‘Cob’ is still in use in Norfolk (EDD.).

=cockal=(=l,= a knucklebone of a sheep, with which boys played ‘knucklebones’. Herrick, The Temple, 59; the game played, Cotgrave (s.v. _Tales_). See Nares.

=cockall,= a paragon, a pattern, of supreme excellence; ‘He was the very cockall of a husband’, Marston, Antonio, Pt. I, iii. 2. 6.

=cockatrice,= a name for the basilisk, a serpent supposed to kill by its mere glance, and to be hatched from a cock’s egg. BIBLE, Isaiah lix. 5; Romeo, iii. 2. 47; applied to a woman of loose life, B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Rev. iv. 1; Killigrew’s Pandora (Nares). Orig. a name for the crocodile. OF. _caucatris_ (_cocatris_), crocodile; Med. L. _caucatrices_, ‘crocodili’ (Ducange); cp. O. Prov. _calcatris_, crocodile (Levy). See NED.

=cock-a-two,= cock of two, a cock that has conquered two, a conqueror of two. Little French Lawyer, ii. 3 (La Writ). See Nares.

=cockers,= leggings, gaiters. Drayton, Pastorals, Ecl. iv; Ballad of Dowsabel, l. 59. In prov. use from the north country to the W. Midlands and E. Anglia (EDD.). ME. _cokeres_ (P. Plowman, C. Text, ix. 59). Probably the same word as OE. _cocor_, a quiver.

=cocket,= a ship’s certificate that goods for export had paid duty. Gascoigne, Steel Glas, ll. 258, 1058. Anglo-F. _cokette_, app. the seal with which the certificate was assured (Rough List).

=cocket,= pert, saucy, stuck up. Heywood, Rape of Lucrece, ii. 5 (song); Coles Dict. 1677. In prov. use from north country to the W. Midlands, meaning ‘pert, saucy’, also, ‘brisk, merry, lively’ (EDD.).

=cockledemois,= pl. (perhaps) a natural product of some kind representing money. Chapman, Mask of the Middle Temple, § 2. (Not found elsewhere, except as Cockledemoy, the name of a knave in Marston’s Dutch Courtezan). Dr. H. Bradley suggests that this word may represent Port. _coquílho de moeda_; _coquílho_, fruit of an Indian palm; _moeda_, money.

=cockloche,= a term of reproach or contempt, a mean fellow, a silly coxcomb. Shirley, Witty Fair One, ii. 2 (Clare); spelt _cocoloch_, Beaumont and Fl., Four Plays in One, Triumph of Honour, sc. 1 (Nicodemus). F. _coqueluche_, a hood, also a person who is all the vogue. See Dict. de l’Acad. (1762).

=Cock Lorel,= the name of the owner and captain of the boat containing jovial reprobates of all trades in a sarcastic poem, Cocke Lorelles Bote, printed _c._ 1515; used also allusively with the sense of ‘rogue’; ‘Here is fyrst, Cocke Lorell the Knyght’ (ed. 1843, p. 4); ‘Cock-Lorrell would needs have the Devill his guest’, B. Jonson, Gipsies Metam. (Song). See =Lorel.=

=cockney,= (1) a cockered child, a child tenderly brought up, hence (2) a squeamish, foppish, effeminate fellow. (1) Tusser, Husbandry, 183; Baret, Alvearie, C. 729; (2) Twelfth Nt. iv. 1. 15; a squeamish woman, King Lear, ii. 4. 123. ME. _cokenay_, an effeminate person (Chaucer, C. T. A. 4208); _coknay_, ‘delicius’ (Prompt.).

=cockqueene;= the same as =cuckquean.=

=cockshut time,= twilight. Richard III, v. 3. 70. The twilight, or dim light in which woodcocks could most easily be caught in _cockshuts_. A _cockshut_, or _cockshoot_, was a broadway or glade in a wood, through which woodcocks might dart or _shoot_, and in which they might be caught with nets; see EDD. ‘A fine _cock-shoot_ evening’, Middleton, The Widow, iii. 1. 6; cp. Arden of Feversham, iii. 2. 47.

=cocksure,= absolutely secure. Skelton, Why Come ye nat to Court, 279; Conflict of Conscience, iii. 3. 1 (in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 67); with absolute security, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 1. 94.

=cocoloch;= see =cockloche.=

=cocted,= boiled. Middleton, Game at Chess, v. 3. 15. L. _coctus_, pp. of _coquere_, to cook.

=cod,= a bag, Lyly, Mydas, iv. 2 (Corin); a civet-bag, musk-bag, B. Jonson, Epigrams, xix; Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, i. 2 (Livia). OE. _codd_, a bag.

=coddle,= to parboil, to stew; ‘To codle, _coctillo_’, Coles, Dict. 1679; ‘I’ll have you coddled’ (alluding to ‘Prince Pippin’), Beaumont and Fl., Philaster, v. 4. 31. See Dict. In prov. use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Coddle, vb.^{3} 1).

=codes!, coads-nigs!, cuds me!,= ejaculations of surprise, no doubt orig. profane. _Codes! Codes!_, Beaumont and Fl., Maid’s Tragedy, i. 2 (Diagoras). _Coads-nigs!,_ Middleton, Trick to Catch, ii. 1 (Freedom); _Cuds me_, ib. (Lucre).

=cod’s-head,= a stupid fellow, a blockhead. Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II, v. 2 (Cat. Bountinall). In prov. use in Derbysh. (EDD.).

=coffin,= pie-crust, raised crust of a pie. B. Jonson, Staple of News, ii. 1 (Pennyboy sen.); Titus And. v. 2. 189. So in prov. use in Lincolnsh. and Hertfordsh., see EDD. (s.v. Coffin, 5).

=coft=(=e,= _pp._ bought. Mirror for Magistrates, Clarence, st. 49; Dalrymple, Leslie’s Hist. Scotland (NED.). M. Dutch _coft_(_e_, pret., and _gecoft_ (mod. _gecocht_), pp. of _copen_, to buy (Verdam); cp. G. _kaufen_.

=cog,= to cheat, deceive, Much Ado, v. 1. 95; to employ feigned flattery, to fawn. Merry Wives, iii. 3. 76; Richard III, i. 3. 48. Still in use in Sussex, see EDD. (s.v. Cog, vb.^{4} 2).

=cogge,= a kind of ship; chiefly, a ship for transport. Morte Arthur, leaf 82, back, 30; bk. v, c. 3; _cogg_, a cock-boat, Fairfax, tr. of Tasso, xiv. 58. OF. _cogue_ (Godefroy).

=coggle,= _to coggle in_, to flatter continually. Jacob and Esau, ii. 3 (Mido). See =cog.=

=cohobation,= a process in alchemy; a repeated distillation. B. Jonson, Alchem. ii. 1 (Face). See NED.

=coil, coyle,= to beat, thrash; ‘I shall coil them’, Jacob and Esau, v. 4 (near the end); Roister Doister, iii. 3, l. 7 from end; ‘I coyle ones kote, I beate hym, _je bastonne_,’ Palsgrave. Hence _coiling_, a beating, Udall, tr. Apoph., Socrates, § 15. ‘Coil’ has still this meaning in Northumberland, see EDD. (s.v. Coil, vb.^{3}).

=Cointree,= Coventry. _Cointree blue_, Drayton, Pastorals, Ecl. 4; Ballad of Dowsabel, l. 63.

†=coistered;= ‘There were those at that time who, to try the strength of a man’s back and his arm, would be coister’d’, Marston, Malcontent, v. 1. 10. Meaning unknown.

=coistril,= used as a term of contempt, a low varlet; spelt _coystrill_ Twelfth Nt. i. 3. 43; B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum. iv. 2. 137 (Downright). Cp. _coistrel_, in use in the north country in the sense of a raw, inexperienced lad (EDD.); ‘A coistrel, _adolescentulus_’, Coles Dict. 1679.

=cokes,= a simpleton, dupe. B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, i. 1 (Quarlous); Devil an Ass, ii. 1 (Pug); spelt _cox_, Beaumont and Fl., Wit at sev. Weapons, iii. 1 (Oldcraft).

=cokes,= to coax. Puttenham, E. Poesie, bk. i, c. 8; p. 36.

=colberteen,= a kind of open lace, like network. Congreve, Way of the World, v. 1 (Lady Wishfort); Swift, Cadenus and Vanessa, 418. Named from ‘Colbert, Superintendent of the French King’s Manufactures’ (Fop’s Dict. 1690). See NED.

=colcarrier, colecarier,= a coal-carrier, a low dependant, cringing sycophant; lit. one who will carry coals for another. Golding, tr. of Ovid, The Epistle, p. 2, l. 86. See =coals.=

=Cold-harbour, Cole-arbour,= an old building in Dowgate Ward. Westward Ho, iv. 2 (Justinians); B. Jonson, Sil. Woman, ii. 3 (Morose); Middleton, A Trick to Catch, ii. 1 (Lucre). For an account of the great house called Cold Harbrough, see Stow’s Survey, Dowgate Ward (ed. Thoms, 88. 89).

=cole, coal,= money. (Cant.) Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, i. 1 (Shamwell). _To post the cole_, to pay the money. See NED. (s.v. Cole, sb.^{3}).

=coleharth,= a coal-hearth, or place where a fire has been made; ‘An Harte passeth by some _coleharthes_ . . . the hote sent of the fire smoothreth the houndes’, Turbervile, Hunting, c. 40; pp. 114-15.

=coleprophet;= see =col-prophet.=

=coles:= in phr. _precious coles_, a kind of minced oath. Gascoigne, Steel Glas (ed. Arber, 80); Return from Parnassus (ed. Arber, 50). See NED. (s.v. Precious).

=colestaff;= see =cowl-staff.=

=colice,= a strong broth, a ‘cullis’. Lyly, Campaspe, iii. 5 (Apelles). F. ‘_coulis_, a cullis or broth of boyled meat strained’ (Cotgr.).

=coll,= to embrace. Middleton, The Witch, i. 2 (Hecate); Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 34; an embrace, Middleton, The Witch, i. 2. Still in use in Dorset and Somerset, see EDD. (s.v. Coll, vb.^{1}). OF. _coler_ (La Curne), deriv. of _col_ (F. _cou_), neck.

=colle-pixie,= a goblin, mischievous sprite. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Diogenes, § 99. For _colt-pixy_, a sprite in the form of a colt, which neighs and misleads horses in bogs, a word known in Hants. and Dorset, the Dorset form is _cole-pexy_, see EDD. (s.v. Colt-pixy).

=collet,= the part of a ring in which the stone is set. C. Tourneur, Revengers’ Tragedy, i. 1 (Duchess); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, x. 18. Cp. F. _collet_, a collar (Cotgr.).

=collocavit,= used grotesquely to denote some kitchen utensil. Udall, Roister Doister, iv. 7 (Merygreek). There seems to be an allusion to =collock,= q.v.

=collock,= a large pail; ‘Collock, an old word for a Pail’, Phillips, Coles, 1677. A north-country word (EDD.). ME. _colok_, ‘canterus’ (Voc. 771. 30).

=collogue,= to deal flatteringly with any one; ‘_Trainer sa parole_, to collogue, to flatter, fawn on’, Cotgrave; to feign agreement, Marston and Webster, Malcontent, v. 2; to have a private understanding with, ‘They collogued together’, Wood, Life (ed. 1772, p. 172). In prov. use in many parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland in three senses: (1) to talk confidentially, (2) to flatter, to wheedle, (3) to plot together for mischief (EDD.). Cp. L. _colloq-_ in _colloquium_, with change to _collogue_ under the influence of _dialogue_, _duologue_, &c.

=collow,= to make black or dirty with coal-dust or soot; Middleton, Family of Love, iii. 3. 2; ‘_Poisler_, to collow, smut, begryme’, Cotgrave; ‘I colowe, I make blake with a cole’, Palsgrave. A Cheshire word, see EDD. (s.v. Colley, vb. 6). ME. _colwen_, cp. _colwyd_, ‘carbonatus’ (Prompt. EETS. 91). Cp. =colly.=

=colly,= to blacken. B. Jonson, Poetaster, iv. 3; Mids. Night’s D. i. 1. 145; ‘to colly, _denigro_’, Coles, Dict. 1679. In prov. use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Colley, vb. 6). See =collow.=

=colon,= the largest human intestine. _To satisfy colon_, to satisfy one’s hunger, Massinger, Unnat. Combat, i. 1 (Belgarde); _to pacify colon_, id., Picture, ii. 1 (Hilario).

=colour,= a pretence, appearance of right. Two Gent. iv. 2. 3; Wint. Tale, iv. 4. 566; _colours_, ensigns, standards, 1 Hen. VI, iii. 3. 31; _to fear no colours_, to fear no flags, no enemy, Twelfth Nt. i. 5. 6.

=colour de roy,= bright tawny. Marston, Antonio, Pt. II, i. 2 (Balurdo). F. ‘_couleur de roy_, was in old time, Purple; but now is the bright Tawny, which we also tearm Colour de Roy’ (Cotgr.).

=colpheg,= to buffet or cuff, Edwards, Damon and Pithias, Anc. Eng. Drama, i. 85, col. 1; in Dodsley (ed. 1780, i. 209). See NED. (s.v. Colaphize).

=colprophet,= a sorcerer, fortune-teller. Mirror for Magistrates, Glendour, st. 31 and st. 34; spelt _coleprophet_, J. Heywood, Prov. and Epigr. (ed. 1867, p. 17).

=colstaff, colestaff;= see =cowl-staff.=

=colt,= to befool, to ‘take in’, 1 Hen. IV, ii. 2. 39; Beaumont and Fl., Wit without Money, iii. 2. From _colt_ (a young horse), used humorously for a young or inexperienced person, one easily taken in. Cp. the prov. use of ‘to colt’, meaning to make a newcomer pay his footing, see EDD. (s.v. Colt, vb.^{1} 12).

=comand,= coming. B. Jonson, Sad Sheph. ii. 1 (Maud.). A northern form.

=come off,= to pay money, pay a debt. Massinger, Unnat. Combat, iv. 2 (1 Court.); B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, i. 1 (end); Merry Wives, iv. 3. 12.

=com’esta,= how is it? how goes it with you? Massinger, Virgin Martyr, ii. 3 (Spungius). Span. _cómo está?_, how is it?

=commandador,= a lieutenant; compared to a common sergeant. B. Jonson, Volpone, iv. 1 (Sir Pol.). Span. _comendador_, ‘a commander, lieutenant’ (Minsheu). The Span. vb. _comendar_ orig. meant ‘to commend’.

=commandments, ten,= ten fingers, or two fists; jocularly. 2 Hen. VI, i. 3. 145; Udall, tr. of Apoph., Socrates, § 63. [‘Be busy with the ten commandments’, Longfellow, Span. Student, iii. 2 (Cruzado).] Cp. Span. _los diez mandamiéntos_, the ten commandments; ironically, the ten fingers (Stevens).

=commedle,= to commix, mingle. Webster, White Devil (Flamineo), ed. Dyce, p. 25.

=commence,= to take the full degree of Master or Doctor in any faculty at a University; _to commence doctor_, to take a doctor’s degree, Massinger, Emp. of the East, ii. 1 (Chrysapius); Duke of Milan, iv. 1 (Graccho).

=commencement,= the great public ceremony, esp. at Cambridge, when degrees are conferred at the end of the academical year. Brewer, Lingua, iv. 2 (Common Sense); ‘In Oxford this solemnitie is called an Act, but in Cambridge they use the French word Commensement’, Harrison, Descr. England, bk. ii, ch. 3 (ed. Furnivall, 75).

=commodity,= wares, merchandise; esp. a parcel of goods sold on credit by a usurer to a needy person, who immediately raised some cash by reselling them at a lower price, often to the usurer himself; ‘He’s in for a commodity of brown paper and old ginger’, Measure for M. iv. 3. 5; advantage, profit, ‘I will turn diseases to commodity’, 2 Hen. IV, i. 2 (end); Bacon, Essay 41, § 1.

=communicate,= to share in, partake of; ‘Thousands that communicate our loss’, B. Jonson, Sejanus, iii. 1 (Tib.).

=communication,= conversation, talk. BIBLE, Luke xxiv. 17; Eph. iv. 29; this rendering of the Gk. λόγος is due to Tyndal, ‘communicacion’; ‘(Cardinal Morton), gentill in communication’, More, Utopia (ed. Arber, 36).

=companiable,= sociable, companionable. Bacon, Henry VII, ed. Lumby, p. 217. ME. _companyable_, ‘socialis’ (Prompt.). A deriv. of OF. _compain_, orig. nom. of _compagnon_; Anglo-F. _cumpainz_ (Ch. Rol. 285).

=companion,= used as term of contempt, a fellow. Com. of Errors, iv. 4. 64; 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 102. Cp. the use of _kumpân_ (OF. _compain_) in the MLG. poem Reinke de Vos, 1984 (ed. Bartsch, p. 293).

=compass,= to obtain, win (an object). Two Gent. ii. 4. 214; Pericles, i. 2. 24; Spenser, F. Q. i. 4. 28.

=compass,= range, arc described by an arrow. Ford, Witch of Edmonton, ii. 2 (Somerton); Ascham, Toxophilus (ed. Arber, 145).

=complement,= that which goes to ‘complete’ the character of a gentleman in regard to external appearance or demeanour. Hen. V, ii. 2. 134; B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, i. 1 (Carlo).

=complimentary,= a master of defence, who published works upon the compliments and ceremonies of duelling. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, v. 2 (Crites).

=compromit,= to submit, esp. to submit to a compromise. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. iii, c. 4, § 2. F. _compromettre_, to put unto compromise (Cotgr.).

=compter,= a ‘counter’, for children to play with. Conflict of Conscience, iv. 5 (Conscience); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 108.

=comptible,= liable to give an ‘account’ of, sensitive to. Twelfth Nt. i. 5. 186.

=comrogue,= a fellow-rogue. Massinger, City Madam, iv. 1. 10; B. Jonson, Masque of Augurs (Groom). A jocular word; for _comrade_. Also _comrague_, Webster, Appius, iv. 2 (1 Soldier); Heywood and Brome, Lancashire Witches, 1634 (sig. K., Dyce).

=con:= phr. _to con thanks_, to acknowledge thanks, to be grateful. All’s Well, iv. 3. 174; Timon, iv. 3. 428. See NED. (s.v. Con, vb.^{1} 4).

=con.,= short for _contra_, against; ‘Now for the con’, Beaumont and Fl., Nice Valour, iii. 2 (Lapet). Cp. the phrase _pro_ and _con_.

=concavite,= concave or hollow sphere of the sky; ‘Where is become that azure _concavite_?’ (riming with _infinite_), Mirror for Mag., Robert of Normandy, st. 113.

=conceit,= what is conceived in the mind, conception, idea. Othello, iii. 3. 115; Merch. Venice, iii. 4. 2; faculty of conceiving, mental capacity, As You Like It, v. 2. 60; imagination, fancy, 2 Hen. IV, ii. 4. 263; used of articles of fanciful design, Mids. Night’s D. i. 1. 33.

=conceited,= full of imagination or fancy; ‘The conceited painter’, Lucrece, 1371; disposed to playful fancy, Webster, Devil’s Law-case, ii. 3 (Ariosto); B. Jonson, Every Man in Humour, iii. 2. 29; curiously designed, Chapman, Homer, Iliad ix, 85; _conceitedly_, ingeniously, Middleton, Mayor of Queenboro’, iii. 3 (Vortigern).

=conceive,= to understand, to take the meaning of (a person); ‘Nay, conceive me, conceive me, sweet Coz’, Merry Wives, i. 1. 250; Spenser, State Ireland (Works, Globe ed. 666).

=concent,= harmony, concord. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 12. 5; (_consent_), Hen. V, i. 2. 181. L. _concentus_, a singing together.

=concinnitie,= harmony, congruity, propriety. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 20, § last but one. L. _concinnitas_.

=conclusions, to try,= to try experiments, or an experiment. Hamlet, iii. 4. 195; Massinger, Duke of Milan, iv. 1 (near end).

=concrew,= to grow together. Only in Spenser, F. Q. iv. 7. 40. Cp. F. _concrû_, pp. of _concroítre_.

=cond,= taught. Only in Drayton, Pol. xii. 206. See NED. (s.v. Con, vb.^{1} 5).

=condiscend,= for _condescent_, acquiescence, agreement, consent; lit. condescension. Kyd, Span. Tragedy, iii. 14. 17.

=condition,= provision, stipulation; = on condition that, Tr. and Cr. i. 2. 78; Massinger, Old Law, ii. 1 (Simonides); Shirley, Young Admiral, iii. 2 (Fabio); mental disposition, temper, character, Merch. Ven. i. 2. 143; Hen. V, v. 1. 83.

=condog,= to concur, ‘_Concurre_? _condogge_?’, Lyly, Gallathea, i. 1 (Raffe); ‘To agree, _concurre_, _cohere_, _condog_’; Cockeram’s Dict. (1642), second part. A whimsical alteration of _concur_, made by substituting _dog_ for _cur_. The usual tale about this word is wholly without foundation; see NED.

=conduct,= conductor. Richard II, iv. 157; Romeo, iii. 1. 129; v. 3. 116.

=conduction,= guidance, leadership. North, tr. of Plutarch, Coriolanus, § 21 (in Shak. Plut., p. 40, n. 7); Robinson, tr. of Utopia, bk. ii; ed. Arber, p. 138. L. _conductio_; from _conducere_, to conduct.

=coney,= a rabbit. In compounds: _Cony-burrow_, a rabbit-warren, Dekker, Honest Wh., Pt. II, iii. 1 (Orlando), spelt _coney borough_, B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, iii. 1 (Medlay); _coney-catch_, to cheat, dupe, Merry Wives, i. 1. 128; Humour out of Breath, iv. 3 (Hortensio); _conie-catcher_, a cheat, Sir Thos. More, i. 4. 205; _coney-garth_, a rabbit-warren, Palsgrave; spelt _cony gat_, Peele, Works (ed. Dyce, p. 579); _conyger_, Horman, Vulgaria (NED.); _conygree_, Turbervile, Venerie, 184. For etymology of these ‘coney’ words see NED.

=confine,= to send beyond the confines, to banish. Webster, Appius, v. 3 (Virginius). Dyce gives five more examples, all from Heywood. And see Dyce’s Webster, p. 375.

=confins,= inhabitants of adjacent regions. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 20, § 12. L. _confines_, pl., neighbours.

=confluent,= affluent, abounding in. Chapman, tr. of Homer, Iliad ix, 157. In this sense found only here.

=congee,= a bow; orig. at taking one’s leave. Dryden, Prol. to The Loyal Brother, 25; Marlowe, Edward II, v. 4; to take ceremonious leave, ‘I have congied with the Duke’, All’s Well, iv. 3. 103. OF. _congie_, leave of absence, dismission. See Dict.

=conglobate,= gathered as into a globe, compressed. Dryden, Death of Lord Hastings, 35.

=congrue,= fitting, suitable; ‘Congrue Latine’, Latin that can be parsed, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 15, § 1. F. _congru_ (Littré); L. _congruus_, agreeing, suitable.

=congrue,= to agree, accord. Hen. V, i. 2. 182 (Qu.); Hamlet, iv. 3. 66 (Qq.). L. _congruere_.

=conjure,= to call upon solemnly, to adjure. Two Gent. ii. 7. 2; Hamlet, iv. 3. 67; to influence by incantation, or the adjuring of spirits, Timon, i. 1. 7; to swear together, to conspire, Milton, P. L. ii. 693; Spenser, F. Q. v. 10. 26.

=consilliadory,= pl. councillors. City Nightcap, i. 1 (Abstemia); iii. 1 (Lorenzo). Ital. _consigliatori_, pl.; from _consiglio_, council.

=consort,= a ‘concert’ of musical instruments. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, 1. 23 from the end; Northward Ho, ii. 1; Beaumont and Fl., King and No King, v. 2 (Lygones).

=conster,= to construe; a common spelling in old editions of Shakespeare, &c.

=consumedly,= excessively; ‘I believe they talked of me; for they laughed consumedly’, Farquhar, Beaux Stratagem, iii. 1 (Scrub); consumedly in love’, id., iii. 2 (Scrub).

=conteck,= strife, discord. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 1. 64; Shep. Kal., May, 163; Sept., 86. ME. _contek_, strife (Chaucer, C. T. A. 2003, B. 4122). Anglo-F. _contec_, ‘débat, querelle’ (Moisy); contention (Gower, Mirour, 4647). See Dict. M. and S.

=continent,= one of the concentric ‘spheres’ in the Ptolemaic system of astronomy; each hollow crystal sphere carried with it one of the seven planets that revolved round the earth, each planet being attached to the concave surface of its own sphere. ‘As true . . . as doth that orbed continent [that spherical solar shell retain] the fire That severs day from night’ [i.e. the sun], Twelfth Nt. v. 1. 278; ‘Nor doth the moon no nourishment exhale From her moist continent to higher orbs’ (i.e. from her own sphere to the spheres beyond), Milton, P. L. v. 422; ‘All subject under Luna’s continent’, Greene, Friar Bacon, iii. 2 (1148); scene 9. 62 (W.); p. 167, col. 2 (D); ‘Luna, . . . trembling upon her concave continent’, iv. 1 (1543); scene 11. 15 (W.); p. 172, col. 1 (D.). Cp. ‘Judging the concave circle of the sun To hold the rest in his circumference’, Greene, Friar Bacon, iii. 3 (1122); scene 9. 36 (W.); p. 167, col. 1 (D.).

=contrive,= to wear out, to spend; ‘Three ages, such as mortall men contrive’, Spenser, F. Q. ii. 9. 48; Tam. Shrew, i. 2. L. _contrivi_, pt. t. of _conterere_, to wear away; cp. ‘totum hunc contrivi diem’, Terence, Hec. 5. 3. 17. Not the same word as mod. E. _contrive_. See Nares.

=conundrum,= a whim, crotchet, conceit. B. Jonson, The Fox, v. 7 (Volpone).

=convent,= to convene, summon together, summon. Coriolanus, ii. 2. 59; Spenser, F. Q. vii. 7. 17.

=convert,= to cause to return, to bring back; ‘Or if I stray he doth convert, And bring my minde in frame’, Herbert, Temple, Ps. xxiii; to turn aside from (intrans.), ‘When thou from youth convertest’, Sh. Sonn. xi.

=convertite,= a professed convert to a religious faith, Marlowe, Jew of Malta, i. 2 (Barabas); a person converted to a better course of action, King John, v. 1. 19.

=convey,= a cant term for to steal. Merry Wives, i. 3. 52; Richard II, v. 317. Hence _conveyance_, trickery, artifice, 3 Hen. VI, iii. 3. 160.

=convince,= to overcome, overpower; ‘I will with wine and wassal so convince’, Macbeth, i. 7. 64; Spenser, F. Q. iii. 2. 21; to prove a person to be guilty, ‘Which of you convinceth mee of sinne?’ BIBLE, John viii. 46; Tr. and Cr. ii. 2. 129; Webster, Appius and Virg. v. 3; Mirror for Mag., Glocester. st. 43; to refute in argument, ‘It sufficeth to convince atheism, but not to inform religion’, Bacon, Adv. Learning, ii. 681.

=convive,= one who feasts with others, a table-companion. Beaumont, Psyche, x. 211; to feast together, Tr. and Cr. iv. 5. 272. F. _convive_, a guest; L. _conviva_, one who lives or feasts with others.

=cony;= see =coney.=

=cooling card,= a winning card in a card-game, that dashes the hopes of the adversary. 1 Hen. VI, v. 3. 84; Beaumont and Fl., Faithful Friends, ii. 2 (Flavia).

=copartiment,= a compartment, panel. Webster, Devil’s Law-case, i. 2 (last line). Ital. _compartimento_, a partition.

=copatain hat,= a high-crowned hat (?). Tam. Shrew, v. 1. 69; ‘A copetain hatte made on a Flemmishe blocke’, Gascoigne, Works, i. 375. Prob. the same as _copintank_, _copentank_, a high-crowned hat in the form of a sugar-loaf; ‘A high cop-tank hat,’ North, tr. of Plutarch, M. Antonius, § 30. See NED. (s.v. Copintank).

=cope,= a purchase, bargain. Greene, Friar Bacon, i. 3 (351); scene 3. 5 (W.); p. 157, col. 1 (D.). Cp. ‘cope’, a prov. word meaning to exchange, barter, heard in the north country and E. Anglia, see EDD. (s.v. Cope, vb.^{2} 1). Dutch _koop_, a sale, a buying. See Dict. (s.v. Cope, 3).

=copel,= a small pot made of bone-ash, used for melting gold or silver. Sir T. Browne, Urn-burial, ch. iii, § 18. Spelt _coppell_, Bacon, Sylva, § 799. F. _coupelle_, ‘a Coppell, the little Ashen pot or vessel wherein Goldsmiths melt or fine their Metals’ (Cotgr.); see Estienne, Précellence, 142 (Lexique-Index, 400). _Coupelle_ is a deriv. of _coupe_, a cup. Med. L. _cuppa_ (Ducange). See NED. (s.v. Cupel).

=copeman,= a chapman. B. Jonson, Volpone, iii. 5 (Vol.). See =cope.=

=copemate, copesmate,= a person with whom one ‘copes’ or contends, an adversary. Golding, Metam. xii (ed. 1593, 279); Chapman, All Fools, ii (Valerio); a companion, comrade, Greene, Upstart Courtier (ed. 1871, 4), used _fig._ Lucrece, 925; _female copesmate_, mistress, paramour, B. Jonson, Every Man, iv. 10 (Knowell).

=coppe,= the top, summit. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 202. 18; lf. 232, back, 26. Hence _copped_, peaked, Pericles, i. 1. 101; ‘High-copt hats’, Gascoigne, Steel Glas, 1163. ME. cop: ‘the cop of the hill’ (Wyclif, Luke iv. 29). OE _copp_.

=copy,= abundance, copiousness. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, ii. 1 Carlo); Magn. Lady, ii. 1 (Placentia). L. _copia_.

=copy,= copyhold, tenure of land ‘by copy’, i.e. according to the ‘copy’ of the manorial court-roll, used _fig._ Macbeth, iii. 2. 38.

=coracine,= a kind of fish like a perch, found in the Nile. Middleton, Game at Chess, v. 3. 10. L. _coracinus_, Gk. κορακῖνος, from κόραξ, a raven, from its black colour.

=corant;= see =courant.=

=coranto,= a quick dance. Hen. V, iii. 5. 33; Shirley, Lady of Pleasure, iii. 2 (Kickshaw). Ital. _coranto_, ‘a kinde of French dance’ (Florio); cp. F. _courante_, ‘a curranto’ (Cotgr.). See =courant.=

=corasive,= a sharp remedy, severe reproach. Lyly, Euphues (ed. Arber, p. 154). See =corsive.=

=corbe,= short for =corbel.= Only in Spenser, F. Q. iv. 10. 6.

=corbe, courbe,= bent, crooked. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Feb., 56. ME. _courbe_ (Gower, C. A. i. 1687). F. _courbe_, L. _curvus_.

=corbed up,= (prob.) controlled, as by a curb, curbed. Marston, Antonio, Pt. II, ii. 1 (Pandulfo).

=cordwain,= Spanish leather, orig. made at Cordova. Spenser, F. Q. vi. 2. 6; Drayton, Eclogues, iv. 177. Spelt _cordevan_, Fletcher, Faith. Shepherdess, i. 1. 21. Span. _cordován_, Spanish leather (Stevens).

=coresie,= vexation, a corroding, gnawing annoyance. Tusser, Husbandry, § 19. 24. In prov. use in Cornwall, see EDD. (s.v. Corrosy). F. _corrosif_ (Cotgr.); for the change of suffix, cp. _hasty_, the E. representative of F. _hastif_. See =corsive.=

=corned,= horned, peaked, pointed; said of shoes. Skelton, Maner of the World, 26; Greene, Description of Chaucer, 13; ed. Dyce, p. 320. Cp. F. _corné_, horned (Cotgr.).

=cornel,= a little grain, granule; ‘Bread is of many _cornels_ compounded’, Conflict of Conscience, iv. 1 (Philologus); in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 83.

=cornel,= a javelin made of cornel-wood. Used to translate L. _cornus_, Dryden, tr. Aeneid, xii. 406.

=cornelian,= the fruit of the cornel-tree. Bacon, Essay 46, § 1.

=cornes,= pl. kinds of corn; corn. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 8, back, 4; lf. 88. 14.

=cornet,= a troop of horse; so called from its standard, which was a long horn-shapen pennon. 1 Hen. VI, iv. 3. 25; Kyd, Span. Tragedy, i. 2. 41. F. _cornette_, ‘a Cornet of Horse; the Ensign of a horse-company’ (Cotgr.).

=cornet,= a head-dress formerly worn by ladies; ‘Her cornet blacke’, Surrey, Complaint that his Ladie kept her face hidden, 2; in Tottel’s Misc., p. 12. F. _cornette_, a horned head-dress; dim. of _corne_, a horn.

=cornet,= some kind of ornament (?); ‘With cornets at their footmen’s breeches’, Butler, Hudibras, iii. 2. 872.

=cornuto,= a cuckold. Merry Wives, iii. 5. 71. Ital. _cornuto_, a cuckold; lit. ‘furnished with horns’ (Florio).

=coronal,= a wreath of flowers, a garland. Fletcher, Faith. Shepherdess, i. 1. 11; Spenser, F. Q. iii. 5. 53.

=coronel,= a ‘colonel’. Spenser, View of Ireland, Globe ed., p. 656, l. 9; _lieutenant-coronel_, B. Jonson, Every Man, iii. 5 (Knowell). Span. _coronel_, Ital. _colonello_, ‘a Colonel of a Regiment’ (Florio); a deriv. of _colonna_, cp. F. _colonne_ de troupes, a column, a formation of troops narrow laterally and deep from front to rear; see Hatzfeld.

=correption,= reproof, rebuke. Udall, tr. of Apoph., Philip, § 30: Augustus, § 12. L. _correptio_; deriv. of _corripere_, to reprove.

=corrigidor, corregidor,= a Spanish magistrate. Machin, Dumb Knight, v. 1 (Cyprus); Kyd, Span. Tragedy, iii. 13. 58. See Stanford.

=corrol,= to crimson, to make like ‘coral’; ‘The . . . sunne _corrols_ his cheeke’, Herrick, A Nuptial Verse to Mistress E. Lee, 4.

=corser,= a dealer, esp. a horse-dealer. Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 119. 15; spelt _courser_, Beaumont and Fl., The Captain, v. 1 (Father). ME. _corser_, Wyclif, Works (ed. 1880, p. 172); _corsowre of horse_, ‘mange’ (Prompt. 94), Anglo-F. _cossour_, A.D. 1310, see Riley’s Memorials of London, Pref., p. xxii, Med. L. _cociatorem_, a broker, factor, dealer, cp. _cocio_ (Ducange). The Ital. _cozzone_, a horse-courser (Florio), is from _coctionem_, a later form of _cocionem_, see Diez, 112.

=corsive,= for _corrosive_; anything that corrodes, grief, distress. B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Humour, i. 1. 7; Spenser, F. Q. iv. 9. 14; Drayton, Barons’ Wars, iv. 14. See =coresie.=

=cortine,= a curtain (military term); a plain wall in a fortification; the wall between two bastions, &c. B. Jonson, Staple of News, iv. 1 (P. Can.). F. _courtine_ (_cortine_), a curtain; and (in fortification) the plainness of the wall between bulwark and bulwark (Cotgr.); in the same sense Ital. _cortina_ (Florio).

=coscinomancy,= divination by means of a sieve. From Gk. κόσκινον, a sieve; and suffix _-mancy_, as in _necro-mancy_, &c. Hence the compound _necro-puro-geo-hydro-cheiro-coscino-mancy_. Tomkis, Albumazar, ii. 3 (Alb.), where _puro-_ should be _pyro-_. Sometimes the sieve was suspended by a thread; otherwise, it was used in conjunction with a pair of shears, as described in Brand, Popular Antiq. iii. 351; cp. Butler, Hudibras, ii, 3. 569.

=coshering,= the right claimed by Irish chiefs of quartering themselves upon their dependants. Davies, Why Ireland (ed. 1747, 169); feasting, Shirley, St. Patrick, v. 1 (2 Soldier); also, _coshery_, feasting, Stanyhurst tr. Virgil, Aeneid i, 707. Spenser in his State of Ireland mentions _cosshirh_ as one of the customary services claimed by the Irish Lord (ed. Morris. 623). Ir. _cóisir_, feasting, entertainment (Dinneen). ‘In modern times coshering means simply a friendly visit to a neighbour’s house to have a quiet talk’, Joyce, English as we speak it in Ireland, 240.

=cosier;= see =cozier.=

=cosset,= a pet lamb. Spenser, Shep. Kal., Nov., 42; also _fig._ B. Jonson, Barth. Fair, i. 1 (Mrs. Litt.). In prov. use in Glouc., E. Anglia, and Kent, meaning a lamb or colt brought up by hand, also, an indulged child, a pet animal (EDD.).

=cost,= the rib of a ship. B. Jonson, Staple of News, iii. 1 (Cymbal). L. _costa_ (navium) (Pliny).

=cost;= see =coast.=

=costard,= the head. Applied jocularly to the head, as being like a very large apple. ME. _costard_, an apple; lit. a ‘ribbed’ apple; from OF. _coste_, L. _costa_, a rib. Hence _costard-monger_ or _coster-monger_, orig. a seller of apples. See EDD.

=coste,= to move beside; to keep up with a hunted animal. Morte Arthur, leaf 382, back, 19; bk. xviii, c. 19. See =coast.=

=cot, cott,= a little boat. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 9. Many places in Ireland derive their names from this ‘cot’; see Joyce. Irish Names of Places, i. 226. Still in use in the north of Ireland, see EDD. (s.v. Cot, sb.^{4}). Irish _coit_, _coite_, a small boat, a skiff (Dinneen), Gael. _coit_, a kind of canoe used on rivers (Macleod).

=cote, coat= (in coursing), of one of two dogs running together: to pass by its fellow so as to give the hare a turn (NED.); _fig._ to pass by, to outstrip. Hamlet, ii. 2. 330; L. L. L. iv. 3. 87; Chapman, Iliad, xxiii. 324; _coat_, the action of coting, Drayton, Pol. xxiii (ed. 1748, p. 356).

=cote,= to quote. Udall, Paraph. N.T., Pref. (NED.); Middleton, A Mad World, i.2 (Cour.).

=cothurnal,= tragic; ‘Cothurnal buskins’, B. Jonson, Poetaster, v. 1 (Tucca). L. _cothurnus_; Gk. κόθορνος, a high boot. The _cothurnus_ was worn by actors of tragedy.

=cot-quean,= the housewife of a labourer’s hut. Nashe, Almond for Parrat, 5; a coarse, vulgar, scolding woman, B. Jonson, Poetaster, iv. 3 (Jupiter addressing Juno); used contemptuously of a man who acts the housewife, and busies himself unduly in household matters, Romeo, iv. 4. 9; Addison, Spect. (1712) No. 482; spelt _quot-quean_, Beaumont and Fl., Love’s Cure, ii. 2. 6; _to play the cotqueane_, Heywood, Gunaik. iv. 180 (NED.). Cp. use of _cot_ and _molly-cot_ in Cheshire and Yorkshire, see EDD. (s.v. Cot, sb.^{1} 1).

=Cotswold,= pronounced _Cotsal_ in Shaks., Fol. 1, Merry Wives, i. 1. 93; _a Cotsal man_, an athletic man, such as lived in the Cotswold Hills, a district famous for athletic sports, 2 Hen. IV, iii. 2. 23; _a Cotsold lion_, a humorous expression for a sheep of that country, Udall, Roister Doister (ed. Arber, 70), iv. 6 (Merygreek). ‘As fierce as a lion of Cotswold, i.e. a sheep’, Fuller’s Worthies (Bohn’s Proverbs, 204).

=cotton:= in phr. _this geer_ (or _gear_) _will cotton_, this stuff will come to a good nap, this thing will succeed. Fletcher, Mons. Thomas, iv. 8 (Thomas); Middleton, Inner Temple Masque (Second Antimasque).

=couch,= to place, arrange, order. Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. ii, c. 7, § 6; to cause to cower, Lucrece, 507; to place a lance in rest, 1 Hen. VI, iii. 2. 134.

=couch:= in phr. _to couch a hogshead_, to lie down and sleep. (Cant.) Middleton, Roaring Girl, v. 1 (Song); Harman, Caveat, p. 84.

=couchee,= an evening court-reception. Dryden, Hind and Panther, i. 516; ‘The King’s Couchée’, Etherege, Man of Mode, iv. 1; the equivalent of _Le Coucher du Roi_, or simply _Le Coucher_, the reception which preceded the king’s going to bed. Cp. Dict. Acad. Fr. 1786 (s.v. Coucher, s.m.), ‘Il se trouve au lever et au coucher du Roi.’ For the E. form of the word compare our _levee_ for F. _lever_, ‘réception dans la chambre d’un roi au moment où il se lève’ (Hatzfeld).

=couch-quail, to play.= The same as _to couch as a quail_; to cower, crouch down; see Thersytes, 20; Skelton, Speke Parrot, 420. Cp. Chaucer’s ‘Thou shalt make him couche as dooth a quaille’ (C. T. E. 1206).

=coul,= to trim the feather of an arrow along the top. Ascham, Toxophilus, pp. 128, 129, 131, 133. Cp. _cowl_, to gather, collect, scrape together, a north-country word, see EDD. (s.v. Cowl, vb.^{2} 1).

=could, coud, couth,= _pt. t._, knew, knew how to. Spenser, F. Q. v. 7. 5; Shep. Kal., Jan., 10. (Common). See =can.=

=couleuvre,= a snake. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 92. 21; spelt _couleure_, id., lf. 91, back, 19. F. _couleuvre_.

=countant,= accountant; liable to be called upon to give account. Heywood, Rape of Lucrece, i. 1 (Tarquin).

=countenance,= bearing, demeanour, behaviour; authority, favour, credit; show of politeness. As You Like It, i. 1. 19; Tam. Shrew, i. 1. 234; 1 Hen. IV, i. 2. 33; Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 3 (end). The senses are variable and elusive.

=counter,= an encounter. Spenser, Tears of the Muses, 207.

=counter,= a counter-tenor voice. Witch of Edmonton, ii. 1 (3 Clown). See the context.

=counter, compter,= a prison, chiefly for debtors, attached to a city court; ‘One o’ your city pounds, the counters’, B. Jonson, Every Man, ii. 1 (Downright). The sheriffs of London had each his compter; one was in the Poultry, the other in Wood Street, Cheapside. There were three degrees of rooms for the prisoners: those on the Master’s side (the best), the Twopenny Ward, and the Hole (for the poorest), Middleton, Roaring Girl, iii. 3 (Sir Alexander). Those in the Hole were fed from ‘the basket’; see =basket.= Note that, according to Gascoigne, there were _three_ Counters, the third being in Bread Street. ‘In Woodstreat, Bredstreat, and in Pultery’, Steel Glas, 791. In Stow’s Survey of London ‘the Compter in the Poultrie’ is mentioned (ed. Thoms, p. 99), and ‘the Compter in Bread Street’ (ib., p. 131).

=counterfeit,= a likeness, portrait, Merch. Ven. iii. 2. 115; Timon, v. 1. 83. Phr. _a pair of counterfeits_, used in the sense of vamps, or fore-parts of the upper leather of a shoe, Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, iv. 2 (Firk).

=counterfesaunce,= counterfeiting, dissimulation. Spencer, F. Q. i. 8. 49; iv. 4. 27. OF. _contrefaisance_, counterfeiting (Godefroy).

=countermure,= to wall round, to fence in. Kyd, Span. Tragedy, iii. 7. 16. F. _contremurer_, Ital. ‘_contramurare_, to countermure’ (Florio).

=counterpoint,= a counterpane for a bed. Tam. Shrew, ii. 1. 353. F. ‘_contrepoinct_, a quilt, counterpoint’ (Cotgr.). See Dict. (s.v. Counterpane).

=counterscarf,= a ‘counterscarp’, or outer wall or slope of the ditch, which supports the covered way of a fort. Heywood, Four Prentises (Godfrey); vol. ii, p. 242; id. London’s Mirror, fourth Show. F. _contrescarpe_ (Rabelais), Ital. _contrascarpa_; see Estienne, Préc. 351; _scarpa_, slope of a wall.

=county,= a count, as a title, Romeo, i. 3. 105; Merch. Venice, i. 2. 48. (Frequent.)

=couped,= cut, cut clean off, with a smooth edge (in heraldry). Butler, Hudibras, iii. 3. 214. F. _couper_, to cut.

=coupee,= a dance step; the dancer rests on one foot, and passes the other forward or backward, with a sort of salutation. Wycherley, Gent. Dancing-master, iii. 1; Steele, Tender Husband, iii. 1 (Mrs. Clerimont). F. _coupé_, ‘mouvement par lequel on coupe un espace; (Danse) Pas composé d’un plié avec changement de pied suivi d’un glissé’ (Hatzfeld).

=cour,= to cover; _Pt. t._, _courd_; Spenser, F. Q. ii. 8. 9. See NED. (s.v. Cover).

=courant,= a dance with a running or gliding step; a coranto. Etherege, Man of Mode, iv. 1 (Sir Fopling); Steele, Tender Husband, i. 2 (Tipkin). See =coranto.=

=courant, corant,= an express message; a newspaper. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, i. 1 (Sir Moth); Underwoods, lxi. 81. F. _courant_, running, a runner; from _courir_, to run.

=coursing,= succession in due ‘course’. Only in the following passage: ‘My Ladye Mary and my Ladye Elizabeth . . . by succession and course are inheritours to the crowne. Who yf they shulde mary with straungers, what should ensue God knoweth. But God graunt they never come vnto _coursyng_ nor succedynge.’ Latimer, 1 Sermon bef. King (ed. Arber, p. 30).

=courteau;= see =curtal.=

=court holy-water,= a proverbial phrase for flattery, and fine words without deeds; ‘Court holy-water in a dry house is better than this rainwater out o’ door’, King Lear, iii. 2. 10; ‘Her unperformed promise was the first court holy-water which she sprinkled amongst the people’, Fuller, Ch. Hist. viii. 1. 6; ‘Court-holy-water, _Promissa rei expertia, fumus aulicus_’, Coles, 1699; ‘_Eau beniste de cour_, court holy-water, fair words, flattering speeches’, Cotgrave. See Nares.

Also, =court holy bread;= ‘He feeds thee with nothing but court
holy bread, good words’, Dekker and Webster, Westward Ho, ii. 3
(M. Honeysuckle).

=courtnoll, courtnold,= a contemptuous term for a courtier. Peele, Sir Clyomon, ed. Dyce, p. 516; Heywood, 1 Edw. IV (Hobs), vol. i, p. 51 From _court_, and _noll_, the head, hence, a person (_nowl_ in Shakespeare).

=court-passage,= a game at dice. Middleton, Women beware, ii. 2 (Guardiano). See =passage.=

=coustreling,= a lad, knave, groom. Only in Udall, Roister Doister, i. 4 (Merygreek). See =coistril.=

=covenable,= fit, suitable, becoming, of becoming appearance; ‘A sonne called Philip, a right covenable and gracious man’, Berners, Froissart, ccclxxix. 635; Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, ch. 11, § 6. OF. and Prov. _convenable_ (_cov-_). ME. _covenable_, fit, proper, suitable, agreeable (Chaucer).

=covent,= a ‘convent’. Skelton, Colyn Cloute, 849; Meas. for M. iv. 3. 133. ME. _covent_ (Chaucer, C. T. B. 1827). The old form remains in ‘Covent Garden’. Anglo-F. _cuvent_ (Rough List).

=cover:= phr. _be covered_, put on your hat. As You Like It, v. 1. 18; Middleton, No Wit like a Woman’s, i. 3 (Sir O. Twi.). (There are endless compliments about wearing a hat in old plays.)

=covert:= phr. _under covert-baron_, in the condition of a woman who is protected by her husband. Middleton, Your Five Gallants, v. 2 (Miss N.); _under covert-barn_, under protection, Phoenix, iii. 1 (Falso). Anglo-F. _feme couverte baroun_, for _couverte de baroun_, a woman protected by her husband (Rough List). See Cowell, Interp. (s.v. Coverture).

=covetise,= covetousness. B. Jonson, Alchem. i. 1 (Subtle); Kyd, Cornelia, i. l. 26. ME. _covetyse_, ‘avaricia’ (Prompt.), Anglo-F. _coveitise_, cp. Ital. _cupidigia_ (Dante).

=cowardry,= cowardice. Surrey, tr. of Aeneid, ii. 511; _cowardree_, Spenser, Mother Hubberd’s Tale, 986.

=cowith,= the commonest form of Welsh bardic verse, Drayton, Pol. iv. 183 (notes 59 and 67). Wel. _cywydd_.

=cowl-staff, coul-staff, cole-staff,= a stout pole orig. used for carrying a ‘cowl’ or tub, esp. a water-tub; ‘Cudgels, colestaves’, Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, i. 1 (Tranio); Merry Wives, iii. 3. 156; Select Records Oxford, 92. _Cowl_, for a large tub or barrel, is in prov. use in various parts of England, see EDD. (s.v. Cowl, sb.^{2} 1 and 2). ME. _cowle_ (Prompt., in Harl. MS.).

=cowshard,= a piece of cowdung. Gosson, School of Abuse, p. 19; ‘_Bouse de vache_, the dung of a cow, a cow-shard’, Cotgrave. In use in Yorks., Lanc., Derby., and Wilts. (EDD.).

=coxcomb,= a fool’s cap; lit. _cock’s comb_. King Lear, i. 4. 105; also jocularly, the head, ib. ii. 4. 125.

=coy,= to render quiet, appease. Palsgrave; to stroke soothingly, to caress, Mids. Night’s D. iv. 1. 2; _to coy it_, to behave coyly, to affect shyness, Massinger, New Way, iii. 2. OF. _coi_, still, quiet, O. Prov. _quet_, ‘coi, tranquille’ (Levy), Romanic type _quetu-_, L. _quiētum_. See =quoying.=

=coystrel.= In Dryden, Hind and Panther, iii. 1119, a corrupt form of ‘kestrel’ (a base kind of hawk).

=coystril;= see =coistril.=

=cozier, cosier,= a cobbler. Twelfth Nt. ii. 3. 97; ‘A cosier or cobler, _remendón_’, Minsheu, Span. Dict. 1599. OF. _cousere_, a seamster, one who sews (Godefroy), _couseör_, acc., O. Prov. _cozedor_, ‘couturier’ (Levy); deriv. from _cosere_, to sew, Romanic type representing L. _consuere_, to sew together; see Hatzfeld.

=craboun,= corrupt form of ‘carbine’. ‘Discharge thy craboun’, Return from Parnassus, iv. 2 (Ingenioso).

=craccus,= a kind of tobacco. Middleton, A Fair Quarrel, iv. 1 (Trimtram); Beaumont and Fl., Woman’s Prize, i. 2 (Livia); where ed. 1625 has _cracus_ (mod. ed. _crocus_). NED. suggests that the word means tobacco of Caraccas, in Venezuela.

=crack,= a pert, forward boy. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, Induct. (3 Child); Massinger, Unnat. Combat, i. 1 (Usher). Hence _your crackship_, address to a page, Middleton, Blurt, Mr. Constable, ii. 1 (Hippolito). _Crack-halter_, playfully ‘a rogue’, Gosson, School of Abuse, p. 30; Lyly, Mother Bombie, iii. 4 (Song). Also _crack-hempe_, Tam. Shrew, v. 1. 46; and _crack-rope_, ‘_Baboin_, a crack-rope, wag-halter, unhappie rogue, retchlesse villaine’, Cotgrave; Edwards, Damon and Pithias, in Anc. Eng. Drama, i. 88 (Hazlitt, iv. 68).