Also 7–9 cott. [Anglo-Indian, ad. Hindī khāṬ bedstead, couch, hammock, bier (:—Prākrit khaṬṬā, Skr. khaṬwā). In Anglo-Indian use from early part of 17th c.; thence it passed into naval use, whence to a child’s swing-cot.]
1. Anglo-Ind. A light bedstead; a charpoy.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 149. The better sort sleepe vpon Cots, or Beds two foot high, matted or done with girth-web.
1685. Sir W. Hedges, Diary Bengal, etc. 29 July (Y.). I hired 12 stout fellows … to carry me as far as Lar in my cott [Palankeen fashion].
1699. Dampier, Voy., II. III. iv. 41. In the East Indies … Men take their Cotts or little Field-Beds, and put them in the Yards, and go to sleep in the Air.
1776. Trial of Nundocomar, 32/2. Dr. Williams had informed him that Gungabissen might be brought into court on a cott.
1824. J. B. Seeley, Wond. Ellora, iii. (Y.). I found three of the party insisted upon accompanying me the first stage, and had despatched their camp-cots.
1886. Yule & Burnell, Anglo-Ind. Gloss., s.v., In Northern India … cot … is not in such prevalent European use as it formerly was, except as applied to barrack furniture, and among soldiers and their families.
2. A portable bed, or one adapted for transport.
1851. J. L. Stephens, Centr. Amer. (1854), 306. Every man in that country has a small cot called a catre, made to double with a hinge, which may be taken down and wrapped up, with pillows and bedclothes, in an oxhide, to carry on a journey.
3. Naut. A sort of swinging bed for officers, sick persons, etc., on board ship, made of canvas, stretched at the bottom by a rectangular frame, and suspended like a hammock from the beams.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), Cott, a particular sort of bed-frame, suspended from the beams of a ship, for the officers to sleep in.
1798. Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp. (1845), III. 209. Sailmakers making cots for the Royal Family.
1811. A. Fisher, Jrnl. Arctic Reg., p. x. We were also provided with standing bed-places, which were deemed to be warmer than cots, or hammocks.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple, xxix. Our captain … was put in his cot, and never rose from it again.
4. A small bed for a child; properly, one suspended so as to swing between uprights; a swing-cot; also frequently applied to a ‘crib’ or four-legged bed-stead with sides to prevent the child from falling out.
1818. Todd, Cot, or Cott, a small bed; a cradle, as it is yet called in the north of England.
1819. Pantologia, Cott … the name is now often given to swing-cradles for children.
1856. Mrs. Browning, Poems, Tears. The babe weeps in its cot.
1890. Furnisher’s Catalogue, Swing cot, perforated sides, with half tester. Patent swing-fold cot, can be readily folded into a thickness of 3 inches.
b. A bed in a children’s hospital.
c. 1884. Tennyson, Children’s Hospital, iv. Here is the cot of our orphan.
1891. Low’s Handbk. Charities London, 50. An Infirmary for sick children, containing twelve cots.
1892. Daily News, 31 March, 5/4. The endowment of a cot in the Victoria Hospital for Children, Chelsea, which the Princess of Wales has named after her late son.
5. attrib. and Comb., as cot-frame, cot-bed.
1799. Med. Jrnl., I. 459. They should … sleep in hammocks, or on cott-frames.
1856. Olmsted, Slave States, 614. I was informed that I must get up, that the servants might remove the cot arrangement, and clear the cabin for the breakfast-table.
