[f. COT sb.2]

1

  1.  intr. ‘To cohabit, to dwell with one in the same house’ (Jamieson).

2

  2.  trans. To put up (sheep) in a ‘cot’ or sheep-cote; to keep under shelter during inclement weather. Hence Cotting vbl. sb.

3

1804.  J. Duncumb, Hist. Hereford, Gloss., Cotting, folding sheep in a barn.

4

1805.  R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric. (1807), II. 676. This breed [of sheep] … requires cotting in the winter season.

5

1849.  Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., X. II. 436. The system of cotting has the effect of causing the staple of the wool to be much finer. Ibid., XIV. II. 456. They lamb in February … and are sometimes ‘cotted.’

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