▪ I. cole, n.1 Now rare except in comb.
(kəʊl)
Forms: (1 cáwel, cáwl, cául, ? cál), 4 col, 5– cole, (5 coole, coule, koule, chool, cowle, coyle, coylle, cool(e; also 3–4 cal, 3–9 cale, 6– kail, 8– kale, q.v.).
[The ME. col, cole, and the northern equivalent cal, kal (now kale, kail), point back either to an OE. cál, contr. from cáwel, cáwl, or to the ON. kál: ad. L. caul-is stem, stalk, cabbage (see caul), whence It. cavolo, Pr. coul, Sp. col, OF. chol, F. chou. In the other Teutonic langs. ON. kál (Sw. kål, Da. kaal), also OHG. chôl (from *chaul), MHG. kôl, mod.G. kohl, beside which appear OHG. chôlo m., chôla f., MHG. kôle, MDu. côle f., Du. kool f., all introduced with the plant from Latin-speaking countries at an early date. So also in the Celtic langs., Ir. and Gael. cál, Welsh cawl, Corn. caul, Manx kail, Breton kaol. The frequent ME. caul was perh. taken afresh from L. caulis.]
1. A general name for various species of Brassica; now esp. Rape (B. Napus); also applied to Sea-Kale (Crambe maritima).
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 80 Nim..þone bradan cawel nioþoweardne. c 1340 Cursor M. 12526 (Trin.) Whil þei were þat col gederonde. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxiv. (1495) 677 Some coole is Somer coole and some is Wynter cole. c 1420 Liber Cocorum (1862) 48 Take cole and strype hom thorowghe thi honde. c 1450 Cookery Bks. 69 Take Colys, and stripe hem faire fro the stalkes. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 114/1 Hys gardyn where he had sette cooles and wortes. 1491 ― Vitas Patr. (W. de W. 1495) i. vii. 11 b/2, A lytyll drie brede & wortes of chool. 1551 Turner Herbal i. G ij a, Cole taken after meat, dryueth away the euel..y{supt} cummeth of surffettyng. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. xli. 317 Rape Cole hath one single long root. 1699 Evelyn Acetaria 15 The..Sprouts..of the Cole are very delicate. 1749 B. Wilkes Eng. Butterfl. 51 The Brassica sylvestris, or Wild Cole. 1813 A. Young Agric. Essex. I. 209 Three or four small fields of cole. |
† b. cabbage-cole: a kind of Brassica forming a ‘cabbage’ or head, as the common cabbage.
| 1620 Venner Via Recta vii. 135 Coleworts or Cole are much vsed to be eaten, especially the Cabbage-Cole. |
† 2. Pottage; = kale or kail. Obs.
| c 1460 Towneley Myst., Mactacio Abel 18 My master suppys no coyle bot cold. Ibid., Proc. Noe 30 A measse of wedows coylle. 1674 Ray N.C. Words, Cole or Keal, Potage. |
3. Comb., as † cole-plant; cole-garth, a cabbage-garden; cole-rape, a name given in some Dictionaries to the Turnip, Brassica Rapa; † cole-stock, a cabbage-stalk; † cole-worm, a caterpillar that feeds on the cabbage; in Sc. kaleworm. See also coleseed, colewort.
| 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. VIII. xviii. xiv. 66 The Village..a jumble of cottages and *colegarths. |
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 273, I haue porettes and percyl and moni *Col⁓plontes. |
| 1468 Medulla Gram. in Cath. Angl. 51 Magutus, a *col stook. |
| Ibid., Eruca, a *coolwyrm or a carlok. 1483 Cath. Angl. 51/2 Cale worme, eruca. |
▪ II. † cole, n.2 Obs.
Also 4 colle, 6 coll.
[A word of unknown etymology, and even of uncertain existence, inferred from the following examples (some of which might possibly be explained otherwise), and from cole-prophet.]
1. ? A conjuring trick; jugglery.
| a 1307 in Pol. Songs (1839) 157 Ȝet ther sitteth somenours syexe other sevene..For everuch a parosshe heo polketh in pyne, Ant clastreth with heore colle. 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles iv. 24 [They] ffeyned sum ffolie, that ffailid hem neuer And cast it be colis with her conceill at euene, To have preuy parlement for profit of hem-self. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. i. x. (1867) 20 Coll vnder canstyk, she can playe on bothe handis, Dissimulacion well she vnderstandis. 1564 Becon Display. Pop. Mass Wks. (1844) 260 Therefore can ye not play cole under candlestick cleanly, nor whip master Wynchard above the board. |
2. A deceiver, cheat, sharper (at dice). (Cf. quots. s.v. coll n.3, appar. in sense of ‘dupe’, but referring to gaming.)
| 1532 Dice-Play (1850) 25 To teach the young cock to crowe, all after the cheators kind, the old cole instructeth the young in the terms of his art. Ibid. 29 This new nurtured novice..is become so good a scholar, that he..hath been snapper with the old cole at 2 or 3 deep strokes. |
3. So perh. in Colle tregetour (= juggler who used mechanical devices, conjurer), where however Colle may be a proper name.
| c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame iii. 187 There saugh I Colle tregetour..Pleye an uncouthe thyng to telle: I saugh him carien a wind-melle Vnder a walshe-note shale. |
▪ III. cole, n.3 Cant.
(kəʊl)
Also 9 coal.
[Generally thought to be an old slang use of cole = coal.]
Money. to post the cole: to pay down the money.
| 1673 R. Head Canting Acad. 13 Cole, Money of any sort. 1676 Warning for Housekprs. 6 We bite the Culley of his Cole. c 1684 Roxb. Ballads VII. 19 My pocket with Cole to encrease. 1771–2 Batchelor (1773) II. 24 Cole is a cant word among my news-boys and other black-guards, for cash, pounds, shillings, pence, and farthings..His uncle cannot slack his jokes, But always pays the Cole. 1781 Burgoyne Lord of Manor iii. (D.), Come, my soul, Post the cole; I must beg or borrow. 1832 Hood in Athenæum 444 It would not suit me to write..even if they offered..to post the cole. 1870 Punch I. 61/1 The Royal Academy still owes a heavy debt to landscape-painting, but we are glad it has ‘posted the coal’ in payment of a first instalment. |
▪ IV. † cole, n.4 Obs. rare—1.
[Variously conjectured to be F. col neck, and ON. kollr head, top.]
| c 1500 Robin Hood (Ritson) 49 Our Kynge was grete above his cole A brode hat on his crowne. |
▪ V. † cole, v.1 Obs.
[Etymol. uncertain: it has been conjectured to be identical with the next vb.; also, to be a by-form of kill, in southern ME. cüllen; but there are difficulties.]
a. To cut off (e.g. the head). b. To ‘cut off’, kill, slay.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 2754 (Cott.) Þi rightwisnes may not thole For þe wike þat þou þe dught cole. Ibid. 3135 He wald leuer his child cole [v.r. spille] þan of his lauerd wrath to thole. Ibid. 11862 Ne mai na liueand man it [þe stinck] thole, And þar-wit he dos his leche cole. Ibid. 13175 A sargant sent he to Iaiole And iohan hefd comanded to cole. |
▪ VI. cole, v.2 Sc.
[Etymol. uncertain: Jamieson unites it with coll, cow to poll, top; but that is on phonetic grounds unsatisfactory; cole is (kuəl), but coll is (kɔu) in south of Scotl.]
To cut away obliquely; to hollow out.
| a 1800 Nithsdale Song (Jam.) High-coled stockings and laigh-coled shoon. Mod. Sc. You must cole it out more under the arms. |
▪ VII. cole, v.3
obs. form of cull v.
▪ VIII. cole
obs. f. coal, cool, colee; see coll n.5