Also 5 cours, 6 cource, cowrsse, coarse. [f. COURSE sb. in various senses, giving verbal senses unconnected with each other.]
1. To pursue or hunt (game) with hounds; spec. to hunt (hares) with greyhounds in view (not by scent): see COURSING vbl. sb. a. trans.
1550. J. Coke, Eng. & Fr. Heralds (1877), 57. Falow-dere, wylde bores, and wolves for noble men to course.
1555. Eden, Decades, 2. As it hadde byn hares courced with grehoundes.
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, xxv. (1887), 99. To hunt a hare, and course a hart.
1771. E. Long, Trial Dog ‘Porter,’ in Hone, II. 209. He’ll never course hares again.
1870. Blaine, Encycl. Rural Sports, v. 551. The animals which were coursed by the ancients were of very different kinds, such as the wild ass, the stag, the mountain goat, the wolf, jackal, boar, fox, hare, &c. &c.
b. absol.
1568. Hist. Jacob & Esau, V. i. in Hazl., Dodsley, II. 246. He coursed and coursed again with his dogs here.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., Induct. ii. 49. Say thou wilt course, thy grayhounds are as swift As breathed Stags.
1637. N. Whiting, Albino & Bellama, 32. He bowled, coursed, angled in the brooke, His pleasure was his joy.
1841. Lever, C. O’Malley, I. xxiii. 131. She hunted with Smith Barry’s hounds;… she coursed; practised at a mark with a pistol.
c. trans. To course away.
1812. S. Rogers, Columbus, III. 3. With hawk and hound I coursed away the hour.
2. trans. To chase, pursue, run after.
1586. J. Hooker, Girald. Irel., in Holinshed, II. 135/2. Sir John Perot … so coursed and followed them … that he left him no one place to rest in.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., II. i. 39. The big round teares Cours’d one another downe his innocent nose In pitteous chase.
1786. trans. Beckford’s Vathek (1868), 25. Some coursing butterflies, others culling flowers.
1873. G. C. Davies, Mount. & Mere, xvi. 133. Inky banks of clouds … coursed each other rapidly across the pale, stormy blue of the heavens.
† 3. To pursue, persecute, worry, trouble. Obs.
1466. Plumpton Corr., 17. To make prossis against my Coussin Godfrey, to bring the issues and profits that he hath received … and else to cours him from day to day.
1600. Holland, Livy, III. xi. 96. [He] coursed and troubled [agitare] the Commons, and persecuted the Tribunes as it were with open warre.
† 4. To chase or drive with blows; hence, to drub, trounce, thrash. Obs.
1585. Abp. Sandys, Serm. (1841), 37. He bestirred him with his whip, coursed those simoniacal choppers and changers.
1589. trans. Marprel. Epit., C iv b. Let me take you againe in such a pranck, and ile course you.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., V. iv. 44. That mighty yron man With his strange weapon … Them sorely vext, and courst, and overran.
1611. Cotgr., Accommoder … also, to course, beat, cudgell. Ibid., s.v. Robbe, He courst his coat or Jacket soundly.
5. intr. To run or gallop about, to run as in a race, to career; also transf. of liquids, etc.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546), F viij. A trumpettour, that coursed as a knyght vpon a horse.
1598. Grenewey, Tacitus’ Ann., XII. viii. (1622), 165. Caractacus coursing hither & thither.
1602. Shaks., Ham., I. v. 66. Swift as Quick-siluer, it courses through The natural Gates and Allies of the Body.
1674. trans. Scheffer’s Lapland, xxvii. 125. To course through Woods and Mountains.
1735. Somerville, Chase, I. 187. In wanton Rings Coursing around … The merry multitude disporting play.
1824. W. Irving, T. Trav., I. 266. Coursing like a colt across its lawns.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., I. x. 140. Raising her hand to her face to wipe off the tears that were coursing down her cheeks.
fig. 1842. Tennyson, Gard. Daughter, 217. We spoke of other things; we coursed about The subject most at heart.
b. To course it: in same sense. Obs.
1633. G. Herbert, Temple, Sinnes Round, i. Sorrie I am, That my offences course it in a ring.
1691. Ray, Creation (1714), 141. She [the Mole] courses it not on the ground like a rat or mouse, but lives under the earth.
† c. fig. To ‘run’ over or through successively a number of particulars, writings, etc. Obs.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., I. iii. 72. She did so course o’re my exteriors with such a greedy intention.
1641. Milton, Reform., I. (1851), 16. It were tedious to course through all his writings.
a. 1734. North, Lives (1826), III. 337. After they have coursed through all sciences and literate enquiries.
6. intr. To steer or direct one’s course; to take or pursue a particular course.
1555. Eden, Decades, 61. Coursynge alonge by all the coastes and goulfes.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 343. They took the southernmost channel and thus they coursed for three or four days.
1772. Ann. Reg., 134/2. The Roman roads that coursed from Mancunium to the neighbouring stations.
1823. J. D. Hunter, Mem. Captivity N. Amer., 32. We … then coursed down a considerable stream.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xlv. (1854), 419. We coursed more than the third of a mile in almost a direct line.
† 7. intr. To run a course (in a fight or tournament). Obs.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., IV. iv. 30. So as they courst, and turneyd here and theare.
† b. Oxford Univ. To oppose a thesis in the Schools. Obs.
1660. [see COURSING vbl. sb. 3].
1691. Wood, Ath. Oxon., I. 479. He did with as much facility course (or oppose his Antagonist) in the publick Schools, as in Latine.
8. trans. [from 5.] To run or move swiftly over (a place) or along (a particular path).
1789. Wordsw., Even. Walk, 21. In thoughtless gaiety I coursed the plain.
1801. Southey, Thalaba, VI. xxvii. Tears coursed his burning cheek.
1870. Bryant, Iliad, I. IV. 117. Fauns … tired With coursing the wide pastures.
b. To follow the course of. rare.
1823. J. D. Hunter, Mem. Captivity N. Amer., 66. We proceeded onward, coursing occasionally the streams, and then crossing one range of hills after another.
9. causal. To cause to run, exercise in running; to give (a horse) a run; to use (greyhounds) in coursing.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 534. She would course horses, and ride them to water.
1600. Hakluyt, Voy. (1810), III. 147. Some of the Mariners went on shore to course dogs.
1684. R. H., School Recreat., 29. Course not your Horse hard 4 or 5 Days before your Match.
a. 1819. Wolcott (P. Pindar), Wks., I. 19. The greyhound ye desired to course.
1868. Rogers, Pol. Econ., ii. (ed. 3), 10. Two greyhounds will run down more hares, if they course in unison, than if they are coursed separately.
† 10. fig. To turn over in one’s mind. Obs. rare.
1600. Holland, Livy, XL. viii. 1064. He walked up and downe alone … coursing and discoursing [volutans] many matters in his head.
† 11. To put through a course (of physic). Obs.
1773. Goldsm., Stoops to Conq., II. Wks. (Globe), 657/2. You have been dosing me ever since I was born … you have thoughts of coursing me through Quincy next spring.
12. Mining. (See quot.)
1851. Greenwell, Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh., 17. Coursing, conducting the air backwards and forwards through old workings, by means of stoppings, properly arranged. Air is usually coursed or shethed ‘two and two,’ or ‘three and three,’ according to the greater or less quantity of fire-damp evolved.
Course v.2, to exchange, etc.: see CORSE v.
