v. Sc. arch. Pa. t. and pple. coft; also 9 caft. [orig. found only in pa. pple. and pa. t. coft, prob. a. MDu. coft, cofte (still dial. beside later kocht), pa. pple. of côpen to buy and sell, deal, trade (according to the general Teutonic phonetic law which excluded pt, kt, cf. OE. sóhte for *sócte.) Hence, at a later date, was formed a present coff: the original present was COPE, q.v.]
trans. To buy, purchase.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., IX. x. 54. He þat all Man-kynd coft fra care.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 583. To thame that banquet had bene ouir deir coft.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot. (1885), 63. A hundir egs … war cofte for a frenche sous.
1774. C. Keith, Farmer’s Ha’, xxviii. A the lasses loup … ’Cause lads for them coff broach sae bright.
1790. Burns, Tam o’ Shanter, 176. That sark she coft for her wee Nannie.
1807. Tannahill, Poems, 124. His master caft him frae some fallows.
1868. G. Macdonald, R. Falconer, I. 280. ‘I cam to coff twine for the draigon.’
† b. To acquire, get (otherwise than by buying). Obs. ‘Used improperly’ (Jam.).
1559. Mirr. Mag., Dk. Clarence xlix. Richard should beside the crowne have coft.
a. 1586. Sir R. Maitland, in Edin. Mag. & Rev. (1810), Sept., 327 (Jam.). Mr. David Seton … mareit all his eldest brother dochters upon landit men … and coft ladies of heretage to his brother sones.
