[L., ad. Gr. κόθορνος: rarely adapted as COTHURN.] A thick-soled boot reaching to the middle of the leg, worn by tragic actors in the ancient Athenian drama; a buskin.
1727–51. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., Sophocles is said to have invented the cothurnus.
1798. Edgeworth, Pract. Educ. (1822), II. 29. The actor on the stage is admired whilst he is elevated by the cothurnus.
1820. W. Tooke, Lucian, I. 551. Think of a tragic actor, who should stand with one foot in a high cothurnus, while the other was quite unshod.
1880. L. Tennyson, in 19th Cent., VII. 60. The cothurnus … equalised the stature of the actors.
b. fig. As characteristic of tragedy, or of a tragic and elevated style.
1852. Thackeray, Esmond, i. She too wears the mask and the cothurnus, and speaks to measure.
1884. Farrar, Messages of Bks., xv. 300. St. Paul cannot always wear the majestic cothurnus, yet his lightest words are full of dignity.
