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.
