▪ I. coe, n.1 local Mining.
Also Sc. cow.
[The Sc. form is more etymological, corresp. to Du. kouw, MDu. and MLG. couwe, côje, Ger. kaue, MHG. kouwe, köwe, in same sense, also ‘cage’:—WGer. type *kauja, a. L. cavea hollow, stall, cage, coop, etc., f. cavus hollow. App. introduced from Low German as a mining term.
The same L. original gave cavie, and (through Romanic) cage; also the last syllable of decoy, Du. kooi, cage.]
A little hut built over a mine-shaft, as a protection to the shaft, or as a repository for ore, tools, etc. Hence coe-shaft, coe-stead († coe-stid).
| 1653 E. Manlove Lead Mines 117 Such as be cavers, or do rob men's coes. Ibid. 259 Water-holes, Wind-holes, Veyns, Coe-shafts and Woughs. Ibid. 273 Fleaks, Knockings, Coestid, Trunks and Sparks of oar. 1747 Hooson Miner's Dict. I j b, Fleaks [are] those very useful things that the miner uses to make for Shelter when he has as yet no Coe to hold off the Wind and Rain from his Shaft. 1815 Farey Agric. & Min. Derbyshire I. 360 Coes, or small buildings..for stowing the ore, tools, etc. 1825–79 Jamieson, Cow, a rude shed erected over the mouth of a coal-pit. Dumfr. 1890 A Correspondent says: ‘The word is still in use among Derbyshire lead-miners’. |
¶ The following absurd ‘explanation’ of Phillips has been uncritically repeated in the Dictionaries.
| 1678 Phillips (App.), Coe, a word used among Miners, and signifying the little recess which they make for themselves under ground still as they work lower and lower. 1708–15 Kersey. So Bailey, Ash, and recent compilers. |
▪ II. coe, n.2 local.
Also caw.
[A worn-down form of cothe, coath, ME. cothe, OE. coðu, coðe disease, sickness (of cattle, etc.).]
A disease in sheep, the rot. Also in Comb., as coe-grass (see quot. 1888).
| 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 218 To communicate the caw or rot in sheep. 1879 Chard & Ilminster News 25 Jan., There were two kinds of coe; one described as fluke coe or liver rot: the other as wet coe, or dropsy. 1888 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Coe-grass, said to be the cause of the coe in sheep and cattle—Juncus bufonius. |
▪ III. coe, v. local.
Also caw.
[f. prec. n.: see cothe v.]
trans. To give (sheep) the coe or rot. Hence coed (coad, caud, cawed), ppl. a., diseased.
| 1746 Exmoor Scolding (E.D.S.) 40, A wud ha' had a coad, riggelting, parbeaking, piping Body in tha! Ibid. Gloss., Coad, or Caud, unhealthy, consumptive, or cored like a rotten sheep. 1879 Chard & Ilminster News 25 Jan., How long will it take to coe a sheep?..one night. 1884 Blackw. Mag. Nov. 636/2 Cawed mutton. 1888 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Wet pastures are said to coe the sheep. |
▪ IV. coe
variant of co, Obs. jackdaw.