† cobbard Obs. or dial.
Also 5 cobarde, coberte, 6 coberd, 8–9 dial. cobbit.
See quot. 1879, and cf. cob-iron.
| c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 663/28 Nomina pertinencia ad pistrinum: Hec uertebra, cobarde. 1481 Will of Langwith (Somerset Ho.), Rakkes oþerwise called cobertes. 1483 Act 1 Rich. III, c. 12 §2 No Merchant Stranger..shall bring..Andyrons, Cobbards, Tongs, Fireforks, Gredyrons. 1539 Inv. Dale Priory, Derby in Archæol. XLIII. 222 A payr of coberds. c 1758 in Miss Jackson Shropshire Word-bk., 1 Paire of Cobbits. 1879 Ibid. Cobbits, two iron bars having knobs at the upper end to rest upon the andirons; meeting at the opposite extremity on the centre of the hearth, they form a kind of cradle for the firewood... The term still (1873) lingers amongst the old people, though the things which it expresses are rarely to be seen. |