Also cor, 9 dial. coor. [app. an anglicized spelling of F. corps body: see CORPS. Cf. also E.Fris. kôr a body of men, from F. corps.]
1. A body of people, a company. (Chiefly Sc.) In core: ‘in company, together’ (Jam.).
1622. Bacon, Hen. VII., 17. That he was in a Core of People, whose affections he suspected.
1722. W. Hamilton, Wallace, 340 (Jam.). Clement … With a brave company of gallant men … in the house of Nairn with that brave core.
1786. Burns, To Unco Guid, ii. Hear me, ye venerable Core, As counsel for poor mortals.
1813. D. Anderson, Poems, 81 (Jam.). The lave in core poor Robie blam’d.
1866. W. Gregor, Gloss. Dial. Banffsh. (Philol. Soc. 1866), In core, on friendly terms; as ‘They’re in core wee ane anither.’
b. The company of players in a curling match.
1787. Burns, Tam Samson’s Elegy, v. He was the king o’ a’ the Core, To guard, or draw, or wick a bore, Or up the rink like Jehu roar.
1890. J. Kerr, Hist. Curling, i. 49. A ‘core’ of matchless weight and power. Ibid., ii. 95. He must have heard the roar of the curling core, as they played on the Nor’ Loch beneath.
2. A company or gang of miners working together in one shift.
1778. W. Pryce, Min. Cornub., 318. Core (i. e. Corps body, company, society). Corps … with the Tinners … has also a respect to time, such as their proper change or turn of working.
1857. Scoffern, etc. Useful Metals, 92. In pairs or cores of from two to eight or ten men and boys.
1866. G. W. Thornbury, Greatheart, III. 6. We’ll go, then, now, and see the forenoon core (gang) come up to grass.
1880. Miss Courtney, W. Cornw. Gloss., s.v., A gang of miners is also called a coor. ‘I belong to the night coor.’
3. A turn of work in a (Cornish) mine; a shift.
1778. [see sense 2].
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, s.v., The twenty-four hours are … divided into four cores, commencing with the ‘forenoon core,’ at 6 a.m., and ending with the ‘last core by night,’ which commences at midnight.
1865. R. Hunt, Pop. Rom. W. Eng., Ser. I. 99. It was Jan’s last core by day.
1880. Miss Courtney, W. Cornw. Gloss., Coor, the time a miner works; eight hours. There are two day and one night coor.
