▪ I. cote, n.1
(kəʊt)
Also 5 kote, coote, 6–7 coat(e.
[OE. cote fem., a parallel form to cot neut. (see cot n.1), found also in MDu., MLG., and mod.G.]
† 1. A small detached house such as is occupied by poor people or labourers; a cot or cottage. Now only dial.
| a 1034 Law Cnut in Thorpe Laws I. 418 (Bosw.) Gif hwilc man forstolen þingc ham to his cotan bringe. c 1160 Hatton Gosp. Matt. xxi. 13 To þeof-coten. c 1300 Havelok 1141, I ne haue hws, y ne haue cote. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. viii. 16 Bothe prynces paleyses and pore mennes cotes. 1382 Wyclif Wisd. xi. 2 In desert places thei maden litil cotes [1388 litle housis]. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 96 Coote, lytylle howse. c 1475 Children's Bk. 48 in Babees Bk. (1868) 18 [As a ka]rle þat comys oute of a cote. 1519 Four Elements (1848) 30 Buyldynge nor house they have non at all But wodes cotes and cavys small. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. ii. 448 Call me Rosalind, and come euerie day to my Coat, and woe me. 1605 Verstegan Dec. Intell. ix. (1628) 286 A Cote in our language is a little slight built country habitation. 1613–6 W. Browne Brit. Past. ii. iv, She them dismist to their contented coates. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Cote, a sorry, slight Country-House or Hovel. 1869 Lonsdale Gloss., Cote, a village, an isolated farm-house; as Beaumont-cote, Roose-cote. [In Sc. common in names of solitary shepherd's houses or farms, as East Cote, West Cote, etc.; also in the comb. cote-house a cottar's house.] |
2. A slight building for sheltering small animals, as sheep, pigs, fowls, or for the storage of anything; a shed, stall; spec. a sheep-cote.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. iii. 1081 Her cotes make biforne..and parte hem so betwene That every stye a moder wol sustene. 1514 Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.) 8 Go se & vysyte oure wethers in the cote. 1549–62 Sternhold & H. Ps. xxiii. 2 He doth me folde in coates most safe. 1611 Bible 2 Chron. xxxii. 28 Stalles for all maner of beasts, and coates for flocks. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 186 Where Shepherds pen thir Flocks at eeve In hurdl'd Cotes amid the field secure. 1691 Ray Creation i. (1704) 177 Lean Hogs have been glad to creep into their Cotes. 1805 J. Luccock Nat. Wool 297 The produce of the Spanish cotes. 1865 Dixon Holy Land II. 46 The dove-seller kept his cotes for the accommodation of persons too poor to sacrifice a kid or lamb. 1869 Lonsdale Gloss., Cote..a small building set apart for any special purpose; as Peat-cote, a house or place to put peat or turf in; Salt-cote, a place where salt was wont to be made on the sea-shore. 1876 Mid-Yorksh. Gloss., Cote, a shed for small cattle, or fowls. [So in Dialect Glossaries of Sheffield, Cheshire, Shropshire, etc.] |
b. Now chiefly in combination, as in dove-cote, hen-cote, sheep-cote, bell-cote (in which cot also occurs); and in more local use, pig-cote, swine-cote, peat-cote, salt-cote, etc., which see.
c. fig.
| 1868 Daily Tel. 9 Dec., Every little human creature folded into the kindly cote of it [the Refuges Society] is..a thief or a pauper the less. |
3. Comb. See cot n.1 4.
▪ II. cote, n.2 Coursing.
(kəʊt)
Also 7 coat.
[f. cote v.1]
The action described under cote v.1
| 1575 Turberv. Venerie 246 He that giueth most Cotes, or most turnes, winneth the wager. A Cote is when a Grey⁓hound goeth endways by his fellow, and giueth the Hare a turne..but if he coast and so come by his fellowe, that is no Cote. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. xxiii. (1748) 356 She from the dogs doth spin, That strive to put her off, but when he cannot reach her, This giving him a coat, about again doth fetch her. 1848 Johnson Sportsman's Cycl. 194 A cote is when two dogs start even together, the hare going in a straight forward direction, and one dog draws endways by the other, and gives the hare a turn. |
▪ III. cote, v.1 ? Obs.
(kəʊt)
Also 6–7 coat(e, (quote).
[Of uncertain origin. Etymological writers have treated it as a doublet of coast, mod.F. côtoyer; but under the prec. n. (quot. 1575) cote and coast are distinguished: cf. also coast v. 10.]
1. trans. (Coursing.) Of one of two dogs running together: To pass by (its fellow) so as to give the hare (or other animal coursed) a turn.
One dog cotes the other: Sir W. Scott erroneously makes the hound cote the hare or other animal.
| 1555 Instit. Gentleman G iij a, Hunters..wil affirme..that the fallowe dogge cotid the whyte, when as euen dede the falow came behind. 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. ii. v. (Arb.) 31 The buck broke gallantly: my great swift being disaduantaged in his slip was at the first behind, marry presently coted and out-stript them. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. xxiii. (1748) 355 Which dog first turns the hare, which first the other coats. 1636 W. Denny in Ann. Dubrensia (1877) 14 The Swallow-footed Grey-hound..with celeritie Turnes his affrighted game, then coates againe His forward Rivall. 1821 Scott Kenilw. xvii, No greyhound loves to cote a hare, as I to turn and course a fool. 1825 ― Talism. viii, [A dog of] swiftness to cote an antelope. |
2. transf. and fig. To pass by, go beyond; to outstrip, surpass.
| 1566 Drant Horace A vij, For he that thincks to coate all men and all to ouergoe. c 1590 Greene Fr. Bacon i. 144. 1599 Sandys Europæ Spec. (1632) 81 They have in some sorts outgrowne them in it, and quoted them in all, one onely excepted. 1602 Shakes. Ham. ii. ii. 330 Wee coated them on the way. 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. iv. iii, Quick observation scud To coate the plot, or els the path is lost. c 1611 Chapman Iliad xxiii. 324 My lov'd son, get but to be first at turning in the course, He lives not that can cote thee then. |
▪ IV. cote, v.2
(kəʊt)
Also 7 coat(e.
[f. cote n.1]
trans. To put (animals, etc.) in a cote.
| 1630 in E. Peacock N.W. Linc. Gloss., Not hauing a swine cote to cote up his swine in. 1630 J. Levett Ord. Bees (1634) 29 When you have any swarme that is set up, Coate it as soone as you can. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 134/2 All Sheep..when Lodged..are either Coated or Housed. 1747 Hooson Miner's Dict. T iv, If he give leave to them to Cote or Lodge any. |
Hence ˈcoted ppl. a.
| 1866 J. Ingelow Poems 225 Or cooing of the early coted dove. |
▪ V. cote, v.3
Also coat(e.
[F. coter.]
Obs. form of quote, q.v.
| 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 37 The Grekes..cotede yeres at the glory of their victory from the captiuite of Troye. 1548 Udall Erasm. Par. N.T. Pref. (R.), The text is throughout coted in the margin. 1609 Heywood Brit. Troy xii. i, Or any passage coate. 1660 S. Fisher Rustick's Alarm Wks. (1679) 244 To be more critical in Coting. |
▪ VI. cote
obs. f. coat, coot, cot.
▪ VII. cote
var. of quot Sc. Obs., rate, due.