▪ I. corf
(kɔːf)
Also 5 corffe, 7–9 corfe, 9 corve, (cauf, coff). Pl. corves (kɔːvz); also 7 corfes.
[Cf. MDu., MHG. corf, korf, Du. and LG. korf; also ON. korfr (Fritzner), Norw. and Sw. dial. korv, Da. kurv; in OHG. chorp (b-), MHG. korp (b-), mod.G. korb basket. The word has not been found in Eng. before the 15th c., when it was probably introduced from some LG. source. The German words are usually considered to be a. L. corbis basket, taken into WGer. in form korƀ(i)-; but many German scholars think it possibly a native word; see Grimm, and Kluge.
(Webster 1828, followed by other Dictionaries, has Corb, either a misprint for Corf (omitted in W.), or perh. a local form in U.S. It is unknown in England.)]
† 1. A basket. Obs.
| c 1483 Caxton Boke for Trav. lf. 19 Le corbillier A fendu ses vans Ses corbilles..the mande maker Hath sold his vannes His mandes or corffes. 1498 in C. Innes Scot. Mid. Ages viii. 248 [The Abbot of Holyrood is charged for a ‘corf of apple orangis’]. 1542 Inv. R. Wardrobe (1815) 62 (Jam.) Twa round tablettis of gold within ane corf of silver wyre. 1543 Aberdeen Reg. V. 18 (Jam.) Ane corf full of apillis, contenand viijxx & tene apillis. |
2. Mining. A large and strong basket formerly used in carrying ore or coal from the working place in a mine to the surface: now generally superseded by boxes or ‘tubs’ made of wood or
iron. The
corf was placed on a sledge, tram, or barrow, for conveyance from the working place to the shaft, up which it was hoisted by a rope to the surface.
Corves varied in content from 2½ to 7½ bushels; a smaller size of the capacity of 1½ or 2 bushels, called
leading corves, were used in delivering coal from the pits at the houses of consumers in the neighbourhood.
| 1653 E. Manlove Lead Mines 271 Corfes, Clivies, Deads, Meers. 1679 Plot Staffordsh. (1686) 129 There being no need for these [open workings] of windless, roap, or carf. 1708 J. C. Compl. Collier 39 The wages..for putting so many loaden corves as are carried on one sledge or tram in one day to the pit shaft. 1747 Hooson Miner's Dict. v ij b, The Drawer..lets down the empty Corfe faster or slower as he thinks fit. 1769 De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. III. 105 A Cart-load of large Coals, containing 10 Corves, being brought to the Doors for 5s. 2d. 1781 A. Bell in Southey Life of Bell (1844) I. 47 Four turns of the wheel bring up one coff. 1788 Gentl. Mag. LVIII. 192/1 On his being..drawn out of the pit, in a corf. 1851 Greenwell Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh. 15 Since the introduction of tubs for conveying coals underground, the use of corves has, in a great measure, ceased. 1871 Hartwig Subterr. W. xxiii. 263 The old method of descending into a colliery was by a corf or strong basket. |
b. transf. The wooden or iron ‘tub’ used in mining.
| 1831 J. Holland Manuf. Metal I. 46 Along this [metal railway] an iron corve or wagon..was made to move by means of a chain. 1862 Chamb. Jrnl. Apr. 262 As he pushes along a corf (the small wagon..used for conveying the coal along the workings and up the shafts). 1892 Trans. Inst. Mining Eng. 147 If they are not well geared the collier loses time in taking corves backwards and forwards, the drivers are delayed by continually putting corves on the road. |
3. Fishing. A large basket or cage, or a large box with holes in it, in which fish, lobsters, etc., are kept alive in the water. (See
cauf.)
| a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Corf, a floating cage or basket to keep lobsters; used on the Suffolk coast. In M[oor's] S[uffolk Words] it is cawf. 1867 F. Francis Angling xiv. 423 Fish baits should be kept in a corfe with plenty of gratings in it. A corfe is simply a large box made of stout elm or oak timber, and shaped rather like the bow of a boat. 1886 R. C. Leslie Sea-painter's Log I. 20 Selected..out of a huge corve, or floating crab-box. |
4. Comb., as
corf-cage,
corf-filler;
corf-bitter, one who picks the stone and other rubbish out of the coal in a corf;
corf-bow, the ‘bow’ of a corf, corresponding to the handle of a basket;
corf-house (
Sc.), ‘a house or shed erected for the purpose of curing salmon, and for keeping the nets in during the close season’ (Jamieson);
corf-rods, the dired rods of hazel used for corf-making.
| 1857 Smiles Engineers (1862) III. 21 Taken on at the colliery where his father worked..as a ‘*corf-bitter’ or ‘picker’, to clear the coal of stones, bats, and dross. |
| 1708 J. C. Compl. Collier (1845) 37 They hook it [the Corfe] by the *Corf-Bow to the Cable. 1728 Specif. Hodshon's Patent No. 499 A new way or method of making corf bows of iron. |
| 1857 Smiles Stephenson iv. 24 The ascending *corve cage. |
| 1865 Morning Star 27 Feb., The deceased, who was about twenty years of age, followed the employment of *corve filler, in common with several females of about her own age. |
| 1649 Act Chas. II (1814) VI. 396 (Jam.) The haill workis and *corfehoussis..wer barbarouslie brunte and destroyit. 1804 Edin. Even. Courant 21 Apr. (Jam.), To be Let..The salmon-fishings in the river Awe..with the corf-houses, shades, etc. belonging thereto. |
▪ II. [corf Explained as: A temporary building, a shed. Error founded on a misprint for
coif, 16th c.
Sc. form of
cove n.1| 1770 Bannatyne Poems 114 Intill a corf he crap [= Henryson's Dog, Schiep, & Wolff xxi, where the reading of the Bannatyne MS. is ‘coif’]. Hence in 1808 Jamieson, 1864 Webster, and some later Dicts.] |