Chapman's May-Day. their bellies and their bagges theyr gods, are called rich cobbes. Nash's Lenten Stuff, Harl. Misc., vi, 174. +But, at leisure, ther must be some of the gret cobbes served likewise, and the king to have ther landes likewise, as, God willing, he shall have th' erle of Kildares in possession, or somer passe. State Papers, ii, 228. The same is alluded to by Massinger: +COBBING. Holding up the head above Here's a trick of discarded cards of us: we were ranked with coats as long as my old master lived. Old Law, iii, 1. In Robertson's Phrase Book [1681], under Card, we find this: "The But others. Pars mihi prima est, my part is first, inter præcipuos dealer shall have the turn-up card, if †COB-IRONS. Andirons. دو retinebit indicem chartam, si sit monas, aut imago humana.' This was a help to playing cards in Latin! +For the kings and coate cardes that we use nowe, were in olde times the images of idols and false gods which, since they that would seeme christians have changed into Charlemaine, Launcelot, Hector, and such lyke names. She them dismist to their contented coates; Upon his dolphin. My coat, saith he, nor yet my fold, Drayt. Ecl., iv. COB, had many meanings; among others that of a herring. The dictionaries say that a herring-cob was a young herring, and so it appears in the following passage. Cob, the waterbearer, punning on his own name, says he was a descendant of a king; namely herring, currently called the king of fish. See Nash's Lenten Stuff. His ancestor, he says, was the first red-herring broiled in Adam and Eve's kitchen. He adds, cob. His cob [that is, his son] was my great, great, mighty great grandfather. B. Jons. Every Man in his H., i, 3. He can come hither with four white herrings at his tail--but I may starve ere he give me so much as a Hon. Wh., part 2, O. Pl., iii, 440. Cob is said also to be an Irish coin, but I know no proof of that. herring-cob in the following: Butchers--may, perchaunce, Be glad and fayne, and heryng cobs to daunce. I find Promos. and Cass., part 1, iv, 6. Cob also meant sometimes a rich, covetous person. In the kitchin.-Seawen large pewter dishes, three dozen of pewter plates, three iron pots and hookes, fowr brasse skillets, two pewter candlestiks, one iron jack and weight, two spits, two pot hooks, one iron rack, one fender, one paire of cobirons, fireshowel and tongs, two dresser boards, one cupboard, one owen lid, one table, one forme, three old chayres. Old Inventory. COB-LOAF. A large loaf. Cob is used in composition to express large, as cob-nut, cob-swan, &c. But if Ajax uses it to Thersites, he must mean to imply awkwardness and deformity. Tro. & Cress., ii, 1. The passage stands thus, in the modern editions: Ther. Thou grumblest, and railest every hour on Achilles; and art as full of envy at his greatness, as Cerberus is at Proserpina's beauty, ay, that thou bark'st at him. This is desperately corrupt. Of "Mistress Thersites," I can make nothing but the 4to suggests the true reading of the rest, after transposing only one word, by giving the whole to Thersites. Ther. Shouldst thou strike him, Ajax, cobloaf! He would pun thee into shivers, &c. The commentators, to explain the other reading, say that cob-loaf means "a crusty uneven loaf," that it may suit Thersites; and Mr. Steevens says it is so used in the midland counties; but Mr. Steevens finds an usage where he wants it. Whereas, if Thersites calls Ajax cob-loaf, it then retains its analogous sense, of a "large, clumsy loaf," and the succeeding allusion to a biscuit is natural, and in its place. "Though you are like a large loaf, Achilles would pound you like a biscuit." The passage little deserves the labour of correcting, had not the correction been so obvious. Stealing of cob-loaves was a Christmas sport. Popular Ant., i, 358. And of them all cobbing country chuffes, which make†COBLING. Perhaps for hobbling. ing. But amongst these studies you must not forget the unicum necessarium, on Sundaies and holy-dayes, let divinity be the sole object of your speculation, in comparison wherof all other knowledg is but cobweb learning; præ qua quisquiliæ cætera. Howell's Familiar Letters, 1650. COCK. A vulgar corruption, or purposed disguise, of the name of God, in favour of pious ears, which in early times were not yet used to the profanation of it. Hence, by cock, by cock and pie, and such softened oaths. We find also cocks-passion, cocks-body, and other allusions to the Saviour, or his body, as supposed to exist in the Host: and when that belief was discarded, the expression still remained in use. W. By the masse I will boxe you. Damon and Pith., O. Pl., i, 216. Haml., iv, 5. By cocke they are to blame. By cock and pye, justice Shallow's famous oath, adds the pie, or sacred book of offices, to the former name. But it is not peculiar to the justice. "By cock and pie and mousefoot," is quoted from the old play of Soliman and Perseda, Orig. of Drama, ii, p. 211. Now by cock and pie, you never spoke a truer word in your life. Wily Beguiled. See the notes on 2 Hen. IV, v, 1. See also PIE. +COCK. The lock of a gun ? Is thy cock ready, and thy powder dry? +A COCK OF TWENTY. One which has killed twenty antagonists in the pit. Luys. She is a widow, don, consider that; Three inches deeper in the say, than I; She may be cock o' twenty, nay, for aught The spider and fly, that erst there bragde and cockt. Heywood's Spider and Flie, 1556. COCK, for cock-boat. A small boat; whether attached to a ship or not, I do not find that it is now the sea-term for any boat there used. Yon tall, anchoring bark Lear, iv, 6. Mr. Steevens and others have shown that this abbreviation is not peculiar to Shakespeare. He quotes, I caused my lord to leap into the cock, &c. and Mr. Todd this: Trag. of Hoffman. They take view of all-sized cocks, barges, and fisherboats hovering on the coast. Carew's Cornwall. †COCK-ALE. A sort of ale which was very celebrated in the seventeenth century for its superior quality, but the exact meaning of the term is not clear. My friend by this time (knowing the entertainment of the house) had call'd for a bottle of cock-ale, of which I tasted a glass, but could not conceive it to be any thing but a mixture of small-beer and treacle. If this be cock-ale, said I, e'en let cocks-combs drink it. Trup. Nay, nay, no more good; but that's all one. your wine I don't love it; not a drop in London worth on't. The London Spy, 1698. sobrietie than will do us Look ye, Mr. Spruce, for and for your ale, ye have drinking; that's the short Spr. How, Mr. Trupenny, not a drop worth drinking? Trup. Cock-ale, no; what's that? Spr. Why, there you shew your ignorance. Look ye, sir, I lay ye five pound you shall say, ye never tasted the like in the country. The Woman turn'd Bully, 1675. But by your leave, Mr. Poet, notwithstanding the large commendations you give the juice of barley, yet if compar'd with canary, it's no more than a mole-hill to a mountain; whether it be cock-ale, China ale, rasberryale, sage-ale, scurvy-grass-ale, horse-reddish ale, Lambeth-ale, Hull-ale, Darby-ale, North-down-ale, double-ale, small-ale, March-beer, nor mum, tho' made at St. Catherines, put them all together, are not to be compared to a glass of pure, racy, sparkling, brisk, rich, generous, neat, choice, odorous, delicious, heartreviving canary. Poor Robin, 1738. +COCK-BRAINED. Hair-brained; wildheaded. And these are proper to drunckards, fooles, madde Poor Robin, 1777. Now Pisces rules, the scaly star, By cock-brain'd youths then suffer knocks; Shirley's Brothers. +COCK-SURE. +To COCK. To vaunt; to swagger. Poor Robin, 1738. The origin of this phrase is not very clear, but it occurs as far back as the time of Chalkhill, and is probably much older. Now did Orandia laugh within her sleeve, Thalina and Clearchus, p. 89. COCKAL. The game played with sheep's bones, instead of dice, similar to the ancient talus or astragalus. Ludus talaris. Also, the bone itself used in that game, called also corruptly, huckle-bone. It is the pastern bone of the animal. The altar is not here foure-square, Nor made of glasse, or wood, or stone, Which boyes and bruckel'd children call Herrick, Hesper., p. 102. The ancients used to play at cockall, or casting of huckle-bones, which is done with sheep's bones. Lavinus Lemn., Engl. Transl., p. 368. The bone itself is thus mentioned: Lastly chief comfort and hilarity, signified by the coccal-bone, [before mentioned as talus] which especially is competent to young age. Optick Glasse of Humors, Ep. Ded. +Talus pronus. pns, Aristot. qui jactus prosper erat. Take all cockall: a luckie cast. : Nomenclator +But newes of this makes scrivener wary, As children venture at cock-all. Wit Restor'd, 1658. Ovid de Arte Amandi, 1677, p. 80. COCKARD, or COCKADE. Cocarde being the original word in French, it is rather strange that it should so long have lost its r, in our usage. Yet Pope has retained it, and seems to accent the word on the first syllable. To that bright circle that commands our duties, Epil. to Three Hours after Marriage. Consider, She may be cock-a-twenty; nay for ought Shirley's Brothers, iii, p. 38. COCKATRICE, or BASILISK. An imaginary creature, supposed to be produced from a cock's egg; a production long thought to be real. It was said to be in form like a serpent, with the head of a cock. Sir Tho. Brown, however, distinguishes it from the ancient basilisk, and in so doing describes it more particularly. For, says he, This of ours is generally described with legs, wings, a serpentine and winding tail, and a crist or comb, somewhat like a cock. But the basilisk of elder times was a proper kind of serpent, not above three palms long, as some account; and different from other serpents by advancing his head and some white marks, or coronary spots upon the crown, as all authentic writers have delivered. Eng. into Vulg. Errors, III, vii, p. 126. Many fables were current respecting it. In the first place it was supposed to have so deadly an eye, as to kill by the very look. This will so fright them that they will kill by the look, Say thou but I, And that bare vowel I shall poison more Than the death-darting eye of cockatrice. Rom. and Jul., iii, 2. But there was a still further refinement, that if the cockatrice first saw the person, he killed him by it; but if the animal was first seen, he died. To no lords' cousins in the world, I hate 'em. A lord's cousin to me is a kind of cockatrice, If I see him first he dies. B. and Fl. Little Fr. Lawy., iv, 1. Dryden has also alluded to this fancy : Mischiefs are like the cockatrice's eye, If they see first they kill, if seen they die. They were supposed to be able to penetrate steel by pecking it. Yes, yes, Apelles, thou mayst swim against the stream with the crab, and feed against the wind with the deer, and peck against the steel with the cockatrice. Lyly, Alex. and Camp., iii, 5. Cockatrice was also a current name for a loose woman; probably from the fascination of the eye. [It seems to be applied especially to a captain's concubine.] And withal, calls me at his pleasure I know not how many cockatrices and things. B. Jons. Cynth. Rev., iv, 4. No courtier but has his mistress, no captain but has his cockatrice. Malcontent, O. Pl., iv, 93. +And amongst souldiers, this sweet piece of vice Is counted for a captaines cockatrice. Taylor's Workes, 1630. +Some wine there, That I may court my cockatrice. Care. Good captaine, Bid our noble friend welcome. Killegrew's Pandora, 1666. +Some gallants will this month be so penurious that they will not part with a crack'd groat to a poor body, but on their cockatrice or punqúetto will bestow half a dozen taffety gowns, who in requital bestows on him the French pox. Poor Robin, 1740. +COCK-THROWING. A practice which prevailed formerly at Shrove-tide, when they tied a cock to a stake, and threw sticks at it. See Strutt's Pastimes and Brand's Popular Antiquities. Cock-throwing. Cock-a-doodle do, 'tis the bravest game, And bind him to a stake, How he strutts, how he throwes, As if the day newly brake? How his mistriss cackles, Thus to find him in shackles, And ty'd to a pack-threed garter; To the valiant Shrove-tide martyr. Wits Recreations, 1640. COCKER, v. To train up in a fondling manner. This word has been explained in editions as obsolete, but Todd shows that it was used by Locke and Swift. +The yong man flourishing as it were in the Aprill of his age, cockereth in himselfe a foolish imagination of his owne lustinesse, and reputeth it as a discredit unto him to seeme to feare the approach of any disease, leaving the provident government of the body to decrepite and withered old age. Barrough's Method of Physick, 1624. COCKEREL. A young cock. Which of them--for a good wager, first begins to crow? S. The old cock. 4. The cockrel. S. Done. The wager? Tempest, ii, 1. Yet shall the crowing of these cockerells Affright a lion. Edw. II, O. Pl., ii, 253. Dryden has used the word. See Todd. Still later, Mr. Tucker, who called himself Search, has employed it. If there were any free-thinking cockerills in the henLight of Nature, v, p. 39. There are other traces of antiquated language in that acute author. +COCKERNUTS. Cocoa-nuts. roost. words which occurred in the Latin form of the document. COCK-FEATHER, the, on an arrow, was the feather which stood up on the arrow, when it was rightly placed upon the string, perpendicularly above the nock or notch. The cocke-feather is called that which standeth above in right nockinge, which if you do not observe, the other feathers must needes runne on the bowe, and so marre your shote. Ascham. Toxoph., p. 175. +COCK-HORSE. To ride a-cock-horse, is a phrase of considerable antiquity, to signify being over proud and imperious. Fooles that are rich with multitudes of pieces, Taylor's Workes, 1630. The term cock-horse was commonly used in the sense of upstart. Our painted fools and cock-horse peasantry. +COCKISH. scatter'd. In soothing them, we nourish 'gainst our senate Mr. Todd has shown that it was only in consequence of a false reading, that Dr. Johnson supposed cockle to be used by Spenser for cockerel. COCKLED is used by Shakespeare for, enclosed in a shell. Love's feeling is more soft and sensible COCKLE-SHELL. The badge of a pilgrim, worn usually in the front of the hat. The habit being sacred, this served as a protection, and therefore was often assumed as a disguise. The escalop was sometimes used, and either of them implied a visit to the sea. Thus in Ophelia's ballad, the lover is to be known, By his cockle-hat, and staff, And by his sandal shoon. Haml., iv, 3. So a pilgrim is described: A hat of straw, like to a swain, Green's Never too late. COCK-LORREL. A famous thief in the time of Henry VIII. It is said, in a passage quoted by Mr. Beloe, that he ruled his gang almost two and twenty years, to the year 1533. Anecd. of Lit., i, p. 396. Ben Jonson introduces his name, and a humorous song of his, inviting the devil to dinner, in his masque of the Gipsies Metamorphosed, vol. vii, p. 408, ed. Gifford. This song was long popular, and the tune, if any one should desire to see it, is preserved in the 5th volume of Hawkins's History of Music, Appendix, No. xxx. [According to Rowlands he was a tinker by trade. He is frequently alluded to by our early writers. It is, however, possible that the name is merely a generic one for a rascal, for in one tract he is termed Cock-Losel.] COCKMATE, probably a corruption of copesmate, q. v. They must be courteous in their behaviour, lowlie in their speech, not disdaining their cockmates, or refraining their companie. Euphues, Q, 4. But the greatest thing is yet behinde, whether that those are to be admitted, as cockmates, with children. Ibid. COCKNEY. What this word means is well known. How it is derived there is much dispute. The etymology seems most probable, which derives it from cookery. [It is probably a diminutive of cock, but seems to be used in several distinct senses, and may have more than one derivation.] Le pais de cocagne, in French, means a country of good cheer; in old French, coquaine. Cocagna, in Italian, has the same meaning. Both might be derived from Coquina. This famous country, if it could be found, is described as a region "where the hills were made of sugar-candy, and the loaves ran down the hills, crying, Come eat me." It is spoken of by Balthazar Bonifacius, who says, "Regio quædam est, quam Cucaniam vocant, ex abundantia panis, qui Cruca Illyricè dicitur." In this place, he says, "Rorabit bucceis, pluet pultibus, ninget laganis, et grandinabit placentis." Lib. ix, Arg. The cockney spoken of by Shakespeare seems to have been a cook, as she was making a pye. Cry to it, nuncle, as the cockney did to the eels, when she put them into the paste alive. Lear, ii, 4. Yet it appears to denote mere simplicity, since the fool adds, 'Twas her brother that, in pure kindness to his horse, buttered his hay. Ibid. A young heyre, or cockney, that is his mothers darling. Nash's Pierce Penilesse, 1592. Some lines quoted in Camden's Remains seem to make cockeney a name for London, as well as for its citizens. COCK-ON-HOOP, or COCK-A-HOOP. The derivation of this familiar expression has been disputed. See Todd. I can add one example of its being used as if to mark profuse waste, by laying the cock of the barrel on the hoop. The cock-on-hoop is set, Hoping to drink their lordships out of debt. Honest Ghost, p. 26. Ben Jonson also seems to show that he so understood it, and his authority is of weight. As an example of the preposition of, by which he there means off, he gives this: "Take the cock of [off] the hoop." Engl. Gram., ch. vi. But it must be owned that the usage is not always consistent with that origin. COCK-PIT. The original name of the pit in our theatres; which seems to imply that cock fighting had been their original destination. Let but Beatrice And Benedict be seen; lo! in a trice, Leon. Digges, Sh. Suppl., i, 71. One of the theatres, at that period, was called the Cockpit. This was the Phoenix, in Drury-lane. |