dial. Also 6 cotte, 7 cote. [ME. and Afr. cot; Godefroy has, app. for the same thing, in OF. (1410) the derivative coterel, pl. coteriaulx, ‘en oster [i.e., des laines] suing, gars, crotins, esconssures et coteriaulx,’ and says that cotteron is now, in the arrondissement of Vervins, hard and matted wool used for mattresses.
Possibly identical with med.L. cottum, cotum, ‘bed-quilt, stuffed mattress,’ this being a purpose to which ‘cot’ was applied. Cf. Statut. Antiq. Cartus. in Du Cange s.v. ‘Cotum vel coopertorium de grossis ovium pellibus.’ Cottum, again, is identified with ONF. coute, coete, OF. coilte, coite, mod.F. couette, quilt.]
1. Wool matted or felted together in the fleece.
[1357. Act 31 Edw. III., c. 8. Et que nul Marchant nautre qi achate laines face autre refuys des laines que ne soleit estre fait devant ces heures; cest assavoir de Cot, Gare vileine tuson.
1389. Act 13 Rich. II., c. 9. Que nulle deinzein ou forein ne face autre refus de leynes sinoun cod gard et vilein.]
1471. Acta Audit., 18 (Jam.). Ij sek of gude woll, but cot or ter.
1531–2. Act 23 Hen. VIII., c. 17 § 1. No maner person … [shall] winde … within any fleesse … tailes, decepteful lockes, cotte, calles, combre, lambes wolle, or any other thinge.
1607. Cowell, Interpr., Cote is a kind of refuse wolle clung or clotted together.
1791. Hamilton, Berthollet’s Dyeing, II. II. III. vi. 209. Throw a small handful of cot or refuse wool into the boiler.
1877. E. Peacock, N. W. Linc. Gloss., Cot, a sheep’s fleece that has become matted together during growth. [So in N. Linc., Leicestersh., and W. Somerset Glossaries.]
1885. F. H. Bowman, Struct. Wool Fibre, Gloss., 352. Cots. Matted locks of wool forming a hard felt in the fleece.
1888. Addy, Sheffield Gloss., Cots, knotted wool from sheep.
2. A confused entangled mass; a tangle: esp. applied in some districts to seaweeds or confervæ, that accumulate in pools, drains, etc.
1851. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XII. II. 295. The internal drains [in Linc. fens] are … kept remarkably clear from weeds and cot.
1881. Leicestersh. Gloss., Cot … any confused heap, tangle, or matting of hair, string, cotton, etc.
1884. S. W. Linc. Gloss., s.v., ‘The roots were all of a cot.’ ‘The corn had grown that length, and was all of a cot.’
