Also 5 corffe, 7–9 corfe, 9 corve, (cauf, coff). Pl. corves; also 7 corfes. [Cf. MDu., MHG. corf, korf, Du. and LG. korf; also ON. korfr (Fritzner), Norw. and Sw. dial. korv, Da. kurv; in OHG. chorp (b-), MHG. korp (b-), mod.G. korb basket. The word has not been found in Eng. before the 15th c., when it was probably introduced from some LG. source. The German words are usually considered to be a. L. corbis basket, taken into WGer. in form korƀ(i)-; but many German scholars think it possibly a native word; see Grimm, and Kluge.
(Webster 1828, followed by other Dictionaries, has Corb, either a misprint for Corf (omitted in W.), or perh. a local form in U.S. It is unknown in England.]
† 1. A basket. Obs.
c. 1483. Caxton, Boke for Trav., lf. 19. Le corbillier A fendu ses vans Ses corbilles … the mande maker Hath sold his vannes His mandes or corffes.
1498. in C. Innes, Scotl. in Mid. Ages, viii. 248. [The Abbot of Holyrood is charged for a ‘corf of apple orangis’].
1543. Inv. R. Wardrobe (1815), 62 (Jam.). Twa round tablettis of gold within ane corf of silver wyre.
1543. Aberdeen Reg., V. 18 (Jam.). Ane corf full of apillis, contenand viijxx & tene apillis.
2. Mining. A large and strong basket formerly used in carrying ore or coal from the working place in a mine to the surface: now generally superseded by boxes or ‘tubs’ made of wood or iron.
The corf was placed on a sledge, tram, or barrow, for conveyance from the working place to the shaft, up which it was hoisted by a rope to the surface.
Corves varied in content from 21/2 to 71/2 bushels; a smaller size of the capacity of 11/2 or 2 bushels, called leading corves, were used in delivering coal from the pits at the houses of consumers in the neighborhood.
1653. Manlove, Lead Mines, 271. Corfes, Clivies, Deads, Meers.
1679. Plot, Staffordsh. (1686), 129. There being no need for these [open workings] of windless, roap, or carf.
1708. J. C., Compl. Collier, 39. The wages … for putting so many loaden corves as are carried on one sledge or tram in one day to the pit shaft.
1747. Hooson, Miner’s Dict., V ij b. The Drawer … lets down the empty Corfe faster or slower as he thinks fit.
1769. De Foe’s Tour Gt. Brit., III. 105. A Cart-load of large Coals, containing 10 Corves, being brought to the Doors for 5s. 2d.
1781. A. Bell, in Southey, Life of Bell (1844), I. 47. Four turns of the wheel bring up one coff.
1788. Gentl. Mag., LVIII. 192/1. On his being … drawn out of the pit, in a corf.
1851. Greenwell, Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh., 15. Since the introduction of tubs for conveying coals underground, the use of corves has, in a great measure, ceased.
1871. Hartwig, Subterr. W., xxiii. 263. The old method of descending into a colliery was by a corf or strong basket.
b. transf. The wooden or iron ‘tub’ used in mining.
1831. J. Holland, Manuf. Metal, I. 46. Along this [metal railway] an iron corve or wagon … was made to move by means of a chain.
1862. Chamb. Jrnl., April, 262. As he pushes along a corf (the small wagon … used for conveying the coal along the workings and up the shafts).
1892. Trans. Inst. Mining Eng., 147. If they are not well geared the collier loses time in taking corves backwards and forwards, the drivers are delayed by continually putting corves on the road.
3. Fishing. A large basket or cage, or a large box with holes in it, in which fish, lobsters, etc., are kept alive in the water. (See CAUF.)
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Corf, a floating cage or basket to keep lobsters; used on the Suffolk coast. In M[oor’s] S[uffolk Words] it is cawf.
1867. F. Francis, Angling, xiv. 423. Fish baits should be kept in a corfe with plenty of gratings in it. A corfe is simply a large box made of stout elm or oak timber, and shaped rather like the bow of a boat.
1886. R. C. Leslie, Sea-painter’s Log, I. 20. Selected … out of a huge corve, or floating crab-box.
4. Comb., as corf-cage, -filler; corf-bitter, one who picks the stone and other rubbish out of the coal in a corf; corf-bow, the ‘bow’ of a corf, corresponding to the handle of a basket; corf-house (Sc.), ‘a house or shed erected for the purpose of curing salmon, and for keeping the nets in during the close season’ (Jamieson); corf-rods, the dried rods of hazel used for corf-making.
1857. Smiles, Engineers (1862), III. 21. Taken on at the colliery where his father worked … as a *‘corf-bitter’ or ‘picker,’ to clear the coal of stones, bats, and dross.
1708. J. C., Compl. Collier (1845), 37. They hook it [the Corfe] by the *Corf-Bow to the Cable.
1728. Specif. Hodshon’s Patent, No. 499. A new way or method of making corf bows of iron.
1857. Smiles, Stephenson, iv. 24. The ascending *corve cage.
1865. Daily Bristol Times & Mirror, 28 Feb., 4/2. The deceased, who was about twenty years of age, followed the employment of *corve filler, in common with several females of about her own age.
1649. Act Chas. II. (1814), VI. 396 (Jam.). The haill workis and *corfehoussis … wer barbarouslie brunte and destroyit.
1804. Edin. Even. Courant, 21 April (Jam.). To be Let…. The salinon-fishings in the river Awe … with the corf-houses, shades, etc. belonging thereto.
