Forms: sing. 1–4 cu, 3–4 ku, 3–6 cou, kou, kow, 4–7 cowe, kowe, (5 cough, 6 coowe), 3– cow. Plural cows, kine (kəin), north. kye (kəi): see below. [A Common Teut. and Common Indo-germanic word: OE. cú = OFris. kú, OS. có (MDu. koe, Du. koe, LG. ko), OHG. chuo (MHG. kuo, G. kuh), Icel. kýr, acc. and dat. kú (:—kû-z, Sw., Da. ko, koe):—OTeut. *kōu-z, *kô-z, fem.:—Aryan gwōus, acc. gwōm, whence Skr. gāús, gām, gav-, go-, Gr. βοῦς, βοϝ-, βο-, L. bōs, bov-, bo-, ox; the word being of both genders outside Teutonic.
The ū in OE., Fris., and ON., against the original ō retained in OS. and OHG., is perh. to be explained from an original Teutonic inflexion kō(u)s, kôm, kôwez, kôwi, pl. kôwez, kôwôm, kō(u)miz, whence, by regular passage of original ôw before vowels into û, gen. kûiz, dat. kûi, pl. kûiz, etc. Hence by levelling in the separate langs., kô- or kû- (umlaut kŷ-), throughout. (Prof. Sievers.)
The OE. inflexion was: Sing. gen. cúe, cú, later, after o-stems, cuus, cús; dat. cý; Pl. nom. acc. cýe, cý, gen. cúa, later, after n-stems, cúna, north. cýna; dat. cúum. The umlaut pl. cýe, cý:—OTeut. *kôwez, kûiz (cf. also ON. kýr, OS. koji, OHG. chuowi, chuoi (chuoji), chuo, Ger. kühe) gave regularly ME. ky, kye, still retained in Sc. and N. Eng. But Southern Eng. at an early period took an extended form kȳn, later kyne, kine, still used, with slightly archaic flavor, beside the later cows, which hardly appears before the 17th c. ME. kȳn is to be compared with brethren, children, and other southern plurals in -n. In this particular case, the use of the gen. pl. cúna, cýna (in 12th c. cune, kyne) with numerals (see 1 b β below), may have contributed to the prevalence of the kȳn, kyne form.]
1. The female of any bovine animal (as the ox, bison or buffalo); most commonly applied to the female of the domestic species (Bos Taurus).
a. 800. Corpus Gloss., 2085. Vacca cuu.
1085. O. E. Chron., Ne furðon … an oxe ne an cu ne an swin.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 416. Vor þeonne mot heo þenchen of þe kues foddre. Ibid., 418. Ȝif eni mot nede habben ku.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 193/33. Heo bi-gan to milken þis cov.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 6763 (Cott.). Ox or ass, or cou or scepe.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 11. He þat steliþ an oxe or a cowe.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, A v b. Hoote mylke of a cowe.
1588. Shaks., Tit. A., V. i. 31. Where the Bull and Cow are both milk-white, They neuer do beget a cole-blacke Calfe.
1758. J. S., Le Dran’s Observ. Surg. (1771), 302. Milk, warm from the Cow.
1819. Shelley, Cyclops, 129. Cow’s milk there is, and store of curdled cheese.
1853. Mayne Reid, Boy Hunt., xiii. They are buffaloes…. Two bulls and a cow, no doubt.
1885–6. (Xmas Card) Song, ‘Three Acres and a Cow,’ i. We’re all to have a bit of land, and learn to speed the plough, And live for ever happy on Three Acres and a Cow.
1886. Times, 25 Feb., 5/4. ‘Three Acres and a Cow’ is the title of a leaflet issued by the Allotments and Small Holdings Association, 95 Colmore-row, Birmingham. This leaflet was, Mr. [Jesse] Collins believes, the origin of the phrase.
b. pl. α. 1 cýe, cý, 3–4 kij, 4 kuy, 5–6 key, 3– ky, kye, kie. (Now Sc. and north. dial.)
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter lxvii. 31. Betwih cye folca [L. inter vaccas populorum].
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gen. xxxiii. 13. Ic hæbbe … ʓeeane eowe and ʓecelfe cy mid me.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 4566 (Cott.). Fatt and faire kij [other MSS. ky].
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1259. Boþe to cayre at þe kart & þe kuy mylke.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 4732. Fifty þousand ky.
1424. E. E. Wills (1882), 57. I wul my wyf haf half my mylche kye.
1511. Pilton Churchw. Acc. (1890), 60. For iij key, xxxs.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XII. Prol. 185. Tydy ky lowys, veilys by thame rynnis.
1534. Act 26 Hen. VIII., c. 5 § 1. Any person … with … oxen, kye, or any other cattal.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot. (1885), 29. In this Wod war nocht onlie kye bot oxne and bules snawquhyte.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1673), 55. About April some take Kie to hire, which have none of their own, and other buy Kie to farme them out.
1664. Sir R. Fanshaw, trans. Horace’s Odes, I. xxxi. (1666), 41. Not hot Calabria’s goodly Kye.
1786. Burns, Twa Dogs, 234. The kye stood rowtin i’ the loan.
1871. Palgrave, Lyr. Poems, 15. The sunny pastures of the kye.
1873. Gibbon, Lack of Gold, i. The song of the milkmaid milking the kye.
1877. Holderness Gloss. (E. D. S.), Kye, cows. In West Holderness, kye is used to denote particular herds, kine being used for cows in general.
β. ? 3–4 cun, ? 3–5 kyn; 4 kuyn, kin [gen. pl. 1 cúna, cýna, 2–3 *cūne, *kȳne, 4 kine], 4–5 kijn, kiyn, kyin, kyȝn, kien, ken, kene, 4–6 kyen, kyne, keen(e, 6– kine. The spelling with u (ü) is early s. w.; cén, kén, keen is Kentish.
[c. 950. Rushw. Gosp., Luke xiv. 19. Dael cyna ic bohte fife.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gen. xxxii. 15. Feowertiʓ cuna.]
c. 1300. K. Alis., 760. Oxen, schep, and eke kuyn [orig. ken, rhyme slen].
c. 1305. St. Kenelm, 233, in E. E. P. (1862), 54. Þer nas non of alle þe kyn þat half so moche mulc ȝeue.
c. 1305. Satire, ibid. 155. Tripis and kine fete and schepen heuedes.
1340. Ayenb., 191. Alle þe prestes Ken.
13[?]. Chron. Eng., 592, in Ritson, Metr. Rom., II. 294. Fif thousent fatte cun.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. VI. 142. To kepe kyne [v.rr. kyen(e, ken, kijn] in þe felde.
1382. Wyclif, Ps. lxvii. 31. In the kiyn [1388 kien] of puplis.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Nun’s Pr. T., 11. Thre kyn [v.rr. keen, kyne, kyen] and eek a scheep.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), II. 305 (Mätzner). Þe seuene kuyn.
a. 1400. Octouian, 672. Or ken and oxe.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), xxvi. 269. Hornes … of kyȝn.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 64/3. Two wylde kyen.
1495. Trevisa’s Barth. De P. R. (W. de W.), XVIII. ix. 850. Kene lowe whan they be a bullynge.
1529. More, Suppl. Soulys, Wks. 320/1. That he bad them preache to oxen & keene and their calues to.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, cv. 351. What in beeffes keen and hogges.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, I. xxxviii. 56. Spurry is good … fodder for oxen and kyen, for it causeth kyen to yeelde store of milke.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., II. iv. 519. Pharaohs leane Kine.
1667. Milton, P. L., XI. 647. A herd of Beeves, faire Oxen and faire Kine.
1868. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), II. vii. 46, note. She looked carefully after her rents in money, kine, and honey.
γ. 7– cows.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1673), 55. Kine or Cowes which are the female of this kind.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), III. 9. In Germany, Poland, and Switzerland, every peasant keeps two or three cows.
1877. H. A. Leveson, Sport in many Lands, 514. Surely the same protection might be afforded to the American bison by the enactment of laws preventing cows being killed during certain times.
δ. kyis (kaise).
(Kaise appears to be only the Cheshire pronunciation of cows, with aī or aū for (au). Sc. Kyis is perh. a double pl.)
1578. Gude & Godlie Ballates (1868), 171. Priestis, tak na kyis [rhyme cryis].
a. 1810. Tannahill, Poems (1846), 88. Quoth gobbin Tom of Lancashire,… ‘Thoose are foin kaise thai’rt driving there.’
2. In many phrases and proverbial expressions.
1399. Langl., Rich. Redeles, III. 262. As becometh a kow to hoppe in a cage.
14[?]. Eight Goodly Questions, viii. in Chaucer’s Wks. (ed. Bell), VIII. 189. God sendeth a shrewd cow a short horne.
1547. J. Heywood, Dial., II. i. She is in this mariage As comely as a cowe in a cage. Ibid. (1562), Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 43. Euery man as he loueth, Quoth the good man, whan he kyst his coowe.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, II. i. 25. It is said, God sends a curst Cow short hornes, but to a Cow too curst he sends none.
1610. A. Cooke, Pope Joan, in Harl. Misc. (Malh.), IV. 95. Drinking, eating, feasting, and revelling, till the cow come home, as the saying is.
1738. Swift, Pol. Conversat., 158. I warrant you lay a Bed till the Cows came home.
c. 1776. Miss F. Graham, in Chambers, Pop. Poems Scot. (1829), 11. The black cow [= misfortune] on your foot ne’er trode.
c. 1800. Hogg, Song, Tween the gloamin and the mirk when the kye comes hame.
1875. J. C. Wilcocks, Sea-Fisherman (ed. 3), 121. ‘There,’ exclaimed Rogers, ‘that ’ull hold us till all’s blue, and the cows comes home in the morning.’
b. † To a cow’s thumb: to a nicety. † Brown cow: humorous name for a barrel of beer. The cow with the iron tail: i.e., the pump.
1681. W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen., 404. To a cows thumb, ad amussim.
1685. H. More, Cursory Refl., 27. Mr. Gadbury … will rectifie the Time to a Cows Thumb.
a. 1704. T. Brown, Wks. (1760), I. 40 (D.). Since you see ’tis as plain as a cow’s thumb. Ibid., III. 26 (D.). You may fit yourself to a cow’s thumb among the Spaniards.
1725. Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., III. ii. Prol. The auld anes think it best With the brown cow to clear their een.
1798. J. Middleton, Surv. Middlesex, 337. A considerable cow-keeper in Surrey has a pump of this kind, which goes by the name of the famous black cow … and is said to yield more than all the rest put together.
1886. All Year Round, 14 Aug., 33. The cow with the iron tail is still milked a great deal in London.
3. The female of certain other large animals, e.g., elephant, rhinoceros, whale, seal, etc., the male of which is called a bull. See BULL sb.1 2.
1725. [see BULL sb.1 2].
1766. Farrington, in Pennant, Zool. (1812), I. 171. The vulgar name is sea calf, and on that account, the male is called the bull, and the female the cow.
1886. F. H. H. Guillemard, Cruise Marchesa, I. 200. The female [of the Fur Seal], or cow as she is always termed.
b. attrib. In sense of ‘female,’ ‘she-.’
1864. [H. W. Wheelwright], Spring in Lapl., 184. I saw a magnificent cow elk quietly walking up the mountain-side.
4. transf. † a. A timid, faint-hearted person, a coward. Obs. Cf. COW-BABY, -HEARTED, COWISH a. 2.
1584. B. R., trans. Herodotus, 11. What a one shal I seeme to bee vnto my Lady: will she not thinke herselfe to be coupled with a cow.
1611. Cotgr., s.v. Crier, The veriest cow in a companie brags most.
1616. R. C., Times’ Whistle, II. 731. Vain vpstart braggadochio! heartlesse cow!
b. Applied to a coarse or degraded woman.
1696. Phillips, Cow … the Emblem … of a Lazy, Dronish, beastly Woman, who is likened to a Cow.
1891. Farmer, Slang and its Analogues, Cow, a woman; a prostitute.
5. Mining. A kind of self-acting brake with two prongs or horns used in ascending an inclined line of rails: see quot. 1851 (Also called bull.)
1834. O. D. Hedley, Safe Transit Railw. Carriages on Tyne & Wear (Newcastle), 28. The cow is essential to the safety of the carriage: for should the rope, the centre crooks, or the chains which connect the carriages together, break … it takes firm hold of the ground, and thus sustains the carriages, which are prevented descending the plane.
1840. Whishaw, Railw. Gt. Brit., 418. Each train is furnished with a cow, or trailer, for stopping the train.
1851. Greenwell, Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh., 17. Cow, a wooden or iron fork, hung loosely upon the last waggon of a set, ascending an inclined plane. Its use is to stick into the ground, and stop the set, in case of the rope breaking.
b. Sometimes applied to the brake or ‘clog’ of a gin.
6. See quot. [Perh. not the same word.]
1843. Marryat, M. Violet, xxxiii. note, A cow is a kind of floating raft peculiar to the western rivers of America, being composed of immense pine trees tied together, and upon which a log cabin is erected.
7. attrib. and Comb.
Several of these appear already in OE., where it is difficult to separate real compounds from syntactical combinations, since the orig. genitive cûe was, when contracted to cú, identical with the nom. But where it was really a genitive, the later form of the case cûs, cuus often appears as an alternative. Such are cú butere, cú cealf, cú éage (cús éage) cow’s eye, cûe mesa cow’s dung, cú horn (cuus horn) cow’s horn, cú tæʓl cow’s tail.
a. attrib. Of or belonging to a cow or cows, as cow-beef, -breath, -broth, -butter, -byre, -cheese, -crib, -flesh, -garth, -hair, † -hold, -kind, -pasture, -shed, -shippon, -stable, -stall, -yard; b. similative and parasynthetic, as cow eye; cow-bellied, -eyed, -like adjs.; c. objective or obj. gen., as cow-driver, -driving, -farmer, -jobber, -lifter, -lifting, -stealer, -stealing.
1588. Cogan, Haven Health, ciii. (1612), 113. *Cow-biefe if it be young … is better then both [ox-beef and bull-beer].
1883. Pall Mall Gaz., 7 April, 7/1. Horseflesh was being sold in the parish as beef…. Very few outside of the trade were able to distinguish it from good cow-beef.
1567. Trial Treas., in Hazl., Dodsley, III. 272. This *cow-bellied knave doth come from the cart.
1852. Hawthorne, Blithedale Rom., I. iv. 67. Let her … help in the kitchen, and take the *cow-breath at milking-time.
1840. Mill, Diss. & Disc. (1859), I. 146. A hundred millions of human beings think it … the most dreadful pollution to drink *cow-broth.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 268. On huniʓe and on *cu buteran.
1545. Raynold, Byrth Mankynde, 113. Take an ounce of cowe butter.
1887. A. S. Hill, in Times, 4 Aug., 8/3. The process by which it [bogus butter] is made to resemble cow butter.
1583. T. Stocker, Civ. Warres Lowe C., I. 87 a. A pounde of *Cowe cheese.
1811. Sporting Mag., XXXVIII. 33. Set on the carpenter to repair *cow-cribs.
1870. Miss Broughton, Red as Rose, I. 168. Looking calm invitation at him out of her great, fine, passionless, *cow eyes.
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., II. 495. The milk is measured and served out by the *cow-farmer.
1528. Paynel, Salerne’s Regim., E iij. He saythe … that *cowe fleshe nourisheth moche.
1570. Levins, Manip., 34/18. Ye *cowgarth, bouile.
1812. H. & J. Smith, Rej. Addr., Archit. Atoms. I sing how casual bricks … Encounter’d casual *cowhair, casual lime.
1641. Best, Farm. Bks. (Surtees), 120. Shee letteth the mucke of the *cowe holde to poore folkes for 8d. a weeke.
1723. Lond. Gaz., No. 6171/5. Richard Foster … *Cowjobber.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XI. 332. Þere ne was cow ne *cowkynde þat conceyued hadde Þat wolde belwe after boles.
1675. Hobbes, Odyssey (1677), 245. Or man would quickly all cow-kind destroy.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), III. 18. When … we have described the varieties of the cow kind, we shall pass on to the buffalo.
1828–40. Tytler, Hist. Scot. (1864), II. 405/1. Indicted to stand his trial for fire-raising and *cow-lifting.
1888. Times, 20 Dec., 5/1. A grand cowlifting expedition.
1728. Pope, Dunc., II. 164. His be yon Juno of majestic size, With *cow-like udders, and with ox-like eyes.
1523. MS. Acc. St. John’s Hosp. Canterb., Rec. for a *Cow-pasture ijd.
1878. Emerson, in Amer. Rev., CXXVI. 412. We send to England for shrubs, which grow as well in our own door-yards and cow-pastures.
1886. Act 49–50 Vict., c. 49 § 9. Any *cowshed or other place in which an animal … is kept.
1859. Sala, Gas-light & D., 187. Black are the hedgerows … and lonely *cowshippons.
1648. Slingsby, Diary (1836), 185. As you go by ye *Cowstable to ye Ings.
1817–8. Cobbett, Resid. U.S. (1822), 4. The yard, cow-stable, pig-sty, hen-house.
1830. Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. IV. (1863), 269. She … turned the coach-house into a *cow-stall.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., III. 631. Neither his commands nor his example could infuse courage into that mob of *cowstealers.
1820. Shelley, Hymn Merc., ii. A *cow-stealing, A night-watching and door-waylaying thief.
1798. Bloomfield, Farmer’s Boy, Spring, 186. Spring makes e’en a miry *cow-yard clean.
1872. E. Peacock, Mabel Heron, I. 296. The two apprentices were mending ‘tumbrils’ in Mr. Todd’s cow-yard.
8. Special combinations: cow-bailie (Sc.), one who has charge of the cows on a common, etc.; cow blackbird (see cow bunting below); cow-blakes (dial.), dried cow-dung used for fuel; † cow-brawl, a transl. of F. ranz des vaches; cow-bug (U.S.), a species of beetle; cow bunting (U.S.) = COW-BIRD 2 a; † cow-carrier, a ship used for cattle transport; † cow-cloom, a mixture of cow-dung and clay; cow-clap, -clot, -dab (local), a plat of cow-dung; cow-doctor, one who treats the diseases of cows; cow-down, a down on which cows pasture, an upland common; cow-dung, the dung or excrement of cows; hence cow-dung bob, cow-dung fly, a grub and fly used by anglers; cow-feeder, a dairy-farmer; † cow-gang, a common on which cows pasture; cow-girl, a girl who tends cows; in U.S. fem. of COW-BOY 3; cow’s grass, pasture for a cow; cow-hitch (Naut.), ‘a slippery or lubberly hitch’ (Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., 1867); cow hocks, hocks that turn inwards like those of a cow; so cow-hocked ppl. a. (said of horses and dogs); cow-horn, the horn of a cow; a horn used for calling cattle; attrib. in cow-horn forceps (see quot.); hence cow-horned ppl. a., shaped like a cow’s horn; cow-killer ant (U.S.), a Texan species of the family Mutillidæ of hymenopterous insects; † cow-lask, diarrhœa in cows; cow-lease, cow-pasture (see LEASE sb.); cow-leech, a cow-doctor, ‘one who professes to cure distempered cows’ (J.); hence cow-leeching, the profession of a cow-leech; cow-lick, a lock or curl of hair that looks as if it had been licked by a cow (cf. calf-lick); cow-man, (a) a man who attends to cows; (b) a cattle-keeper or ‘ranchman’ in the western U.S.; † cow-meat, fodder for cows; cow-milker, a mechanical contrivance for milking cows; cow-paps, local name of a marine polyp, Alcyonarium digitatum; cow-path, a path made or used by cows; cow-pilot, a fish (Pomacentrus saxatilis) of the West Indies and adjacent coast of the U.S.; cow-plat = cow-clap; cow-puncher (U.S.), a cow-driver in the western States; so cow-punching; † cow-remover (U.S.) = COW-CATCHER; cow-run, a common on which cows pasture; cow-shark, a shark of the family Hexanchidæ or Notidanidæ; cow-stone (local), a boulder of the green-sand; cow-sucker, ? a hedgehog; cow-tick, an insect infesting cows; cow-troopial = COW-BIRD 2 a; cow-whistle (U.S.), a whistle used by an engine-driver to scare cows from the line; † cow-whit, a payment to the vicar in lieu of the tithe of milk; cow-woman, a woman who tends cows.
1837. Lockhart, Scott, ii. Auld Sandy Ormistoun, called from the most dignified part of his function the *cow bailie.
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 323. Casings or *Cow-blakes, Cow-dung dryed and used for fewel as it is in many places where other fewel is scarce.
1756. trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1760), I. 174. On the recruits for the Swiss regiments piping or singing the *cow-brawl, a common tune among the Alpine boors.
1880. [Mary Allan-Olney], New Virginians, I. 103. There is a black one nearly 2 in. long … and nearly an inch across … with yellowish spots on its back, which they call-I know not why —the *cow-bug.
1844. De Kay, Zool. N. Y., II. Birds 143. The *Cow Bunting, Cow Blackbird, or Cowpen-bird, derives its various names from the circumstance of its following cattle in the fields.
1666. Lond. Gaz., No. 68/1. Two Fleets the *Cow Carriers from Ireland, and the Bristol Fleet from Virginia.
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 184. Wiker. Hives made with spleets of Wood, and daubed with *Cow-cloom tempered for that purpose.
1710. R. Ward, Life H. More, 190. He … had nothing after all but a *Cow-Clot to draw it in.
1780–6. Wolcott (P. Pindar), Odes R. Academicians, Wks. 1790, I. 117. Let but a *cowdab show its grass-green face.
1789. Trans. Soc. Arts, VII. 73. The ignorance of *cow-doctors.
1807. Vancouver, Agric. Devon (1813), 232. Allowance of 5 per cent. on the gross produce of the dairy for losses, cow doctor and other contingent expenses.
1724. S. Switzer, Pract. Fruit Gard., VIII. lix. (1727), 323. In dryish upland pasture ground, in sheep-walks and *cow-downs.
1793–1813. Agric. Survey Wilts., 17 (E. D. S.). Cow commons, called cow downs.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 401. The Seed … having been steeped all night in Water mixed with *Cow-dung.
1839. E. D. Clarke, Trav. Russia, 118/1. For fuel they burn weeds gathered in the steppes, as well as bundles of reed and cow-dung.
1880. Boy’s Own Bk., 265. *Cow-dung-bob is found under cow-dung, and resembles a gentle.
1787. Best, Angling (ed. 2), 102, 104. The *Cow Dung fly…. This fly is used in cold windy days.
1867. F. Francis, Angling, vi. (1880), 205. The Cow-dung, or Lion Fly.—This is one of the most useful of the land flies.
1805. Edin. Rev., VII. 32. Our author … found the trade of a *cow feeder a singularly profitable one.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., ix. A dairy-farmer, or cowfeeder, as they are called in Scotland.
1583. Inquisition, in Halliwell, Contrib. Eng. Lexicography (1856), 10. From the south end of Winteringham *cowgang to Winteringham haven.
1884. E. Barker, Through Auvergne, 119. We passed a group of *cow-girls singing.
1884. Boston (Mass.) Jrnl., 28 Nov., 2/3. A beautiful cowgirl lives near Murkel, Taylor county, Neb. She owns some stock, which she personally looks after.
1824. Miss Ferrier, Inher., I. xiii. 82. I shall have a croft from you … a *cow’s grass and a kail-yard.
1884. Times, 25 Sept., 2/1. The land … is roughly measured by so many cows’ grass.
1863. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XXIV. I. 94. [A horse with] short thighs, curby or *cow hocks.
1827. Blackw. Mag., Nov., 532/1. Hacks, all rat-tailed, *cow-houghed, ewe-necked.
1884. Janet Ross, in Longm. Mag., Feb., 407. The Italian horse, generally speaking, is wretched animal. Small, ill-made, cow-hocked, [etc.].
a. 1000. Laws of Ine, 59. *Cuu horn biþ tweʓea pæninga wurþ.
a. 1605. Montgomerie, Sonn., lxii. 6. My trumpets tone is terribler be tuyis Nor ȝon cou-horne, vhereof ȝe me accuse.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Briery Creek, ii. 25. The cow-horns were presently no longer heard.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., Cow-horn Forceps, a dentist’s instrument for extracting molars. That for the upper jaw has one hooked prong like a cow’s horn, the other prong being gouge-shaped.
1886. Bicycling News, 23 April, 437/2. The handles are long *cowhorned hollow tubes.
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 4/2. A medicine for the *cowlaske.
1854. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XV. II. 412. The remaining 40 [acres] in *cowlease ground, home crofts, paddock and homestead.
1745. Mortimer, in Phil. Trans., XLIII. 532. To encourage Gentlemen of higher Degrees of Learning than the Farrier and the *Cowleech to make themselves acquainted with the Diseases of Horses, Cows, and other Cattle.
1844. S. Bamford, Life of Radical, 40. His father was a famous cow-leech.
1707–16. Mortimer, Husb., 155 (J.). There are many Pretenders to the Art of Farriering and *Cow-leeching.
1598. R. Haydocke, trans. Lomazzo, II. 86. The lockes or plaine feakes of haire called *cow-lickes, are made turning vpwards.
1879. J. Burroughs, Locusts & Wild Honey (1884), 125. ‘See those cowlicks,’ said an old farmer, pointing to certain patches on the clouds.
1887. Judy, 23 Feb., 95. The Cowlick on the crown of his head rises up.
1824. Heber, Jrnl. (1828), I. 229. Herds of the village, united under the common care of two or three men ‘gaowale’ (*cow-men) [etc.].
1884. Birm. Daily Post, 24 Jan., 3/3. Cowman Wanted, active, tidy and trustworthy.
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 102. Som cuntries lack plowmeat, And som doe want *cowmeat.
1862. Morn. Star, 19 June. The construction of the *cow-milker is very simple, consisting of two diaphragm pumps, [etc.].
1865. in Century Mag., Feb. (1890), 563/3. I shall expect to retain no man beyond the by-road or *cow-path that leads to his house.
1891. E. Peacock, N. Brendon, II. 385. A narrow cowpath between it and the columnar basalt cliffs.
1889. H. O’Reilly, 50 Years on Trail, 357. The town was full of *cow-punchers, mule-whackers, [etc.].
1887. Pall Mall Gaz., 30 March, 6/1. A Wyoming rancheman, who has … spent four seasons big-game shooting and *‘cow-punching’ in that Territory.
1848. Amer. Railroad Jrnl., 13 May, 305. This apparatus is said, by the inventor, to answer for a snow plough as well as *cow-remover.
1887. Pall Mall Gaz., 29 Aug., 12/1. The Government offers facilities for *‘cow-runs’—that is, pastures common to the hamlet.
1891. T. E. Kebbel, Old & New Eng. Country Life, 173. A very small percentage are without either allotments, cottage-gardens or cow-runs.
1820. W. Tooke, trans. Lucian, I. 96. Innumerable asps … *cow-suckers and toads.
1812. Southey, Omniana, II. 262. An insect like a *cow-tick.
1839. Penny Cycl., XV. 307/1. The Cow-Pen Bird, Cow Blackbird, *Cow Troopial, and Cow Bunting of the American colonists.
1883. A. Crane, in Leisure Hour, 284/2. The engineer sounded his *cow-whistle.
1870. Ramsay, Scot. Life & Char. (ed. 18), p. xxxv. The poor *cow-woman.
9. In many names of plants, in some of which cow- means ‘eaten by’ or ‘fit for cows,’ or, like ‘horse-’ in similar use, distinguishes a coarse or wild species from one grown for human use: Cows and calves, a popular name for Arum maculatum; cow-basil: see BASIL1 2; cow-bind, Bryonia dioica; cow-cabbage, a kind of cabbage grown for feeding cows; cow-chervil = COW-PARSLEY; cow-clover, a name for Trifolium medium and T. pratense; cow-crackers, dial. name of Silene inflata; cow-cress, a name for Lepidium campestre and other plants; † cow-fat, an old name for Centranthus ruber; cow-herb, Saponaria Vaccaria (Treas. Bot., 1866); cow’s lungwort, Verbascum Thapsus; cow-make, -mack, dial. name for Lychnis vespertina or perh. Silene inflata; cow-mumble, dial. name for Anthriscus sylvestris, Heracleum Sphondylium, and other plants; cow-pea, a name for Vigna sinensis, largely grown for fodder in the southern United States; cow-rattle (local) = cow-cracker; † cow-suckle, -sokulle, some plant not identified.
1853. T. B. Groves, in Pharm. Jrnl., XIII. 60. Arum maculatum … the vulgar names *cows and calves, and lords and ladies, are also known.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, 242. The Herboristes do call this herbe Vaccaria … We may call it Field Basill or *Cowe Basill.
1820. Shelley, Question, iii. And in the warm hedge grew lush eglantine, Green *cow-bind.
1832. Veg. Subst. Food, 264. *Cow-cabbage … now cultivated in Jersey.
1846. J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4), I. 147. The Cow Cabbage is much cultivated for milch cows in French Flanders, the Netherlands, and in Jersey and Guernsey.
1863–79. Prior, Plant Names, *Cow-cress, a coarse cress, Lepidium campestre.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, Supplt. to Engl. Names, *Cow fat is Cow Basill.
1777. J. Lightfoot, Flora Scotica, I. 143. Great Woolly Mullein, Hag-taper, or *Cow’s Lungwort.
1587. Mascall, Govt. Cattle (1627), 53. Some husbands (to make the cow take the bul the sooner) do giue her of the hearb called *cow-make, which groweth like a white gilliflower among corne.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, *Cow-mumble, a wild plant, more commonly called cow-parsnip.
1846. Worcester, *Cow pea, a kind of pea, cultivated instead of clover. Farm. Ency.
1890. T. H. Mann, in Century Mag., July, 459/1. ‘Cow peas’ … a vegetable that seemed to be a cross between a pea and a bean.
14[?]. MS. Laud Misc. 553 fol. 9 b. Cauliculis agrestis is an herbe that me cleputh glande or *couratle [marg. courattle] þis herbe hath leues liche to plantayne but hii biith nouȝt so moche … & he hath whit floures & he groweth in whete.
c. 1450. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 644/14. (Nomina herb.), Vaccinium, *cowsokulle. [‘Apparently another name for the cowslip’ (Wright).]
