adv. (colloquial).—1. Unknown; in disguise. Also as subs. [An abbreviation of incognito.]
c. 1696. B. E., A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew, s.v. INCOG, for Incognito, a Man of Character or Quality concealed or in disguise.
1711. Spectator, No. 41, 17 April, p. 69 (MORLEY). So many Ladies, when they first lay it (painting) down, INCOG in their own faces.
1739. GRAY, Letters, No. xxiv., Vol. 1, p. 49 (1819). He passes INCOG without the walls.
1777. SHERIDAN, The School for Scandal, iv. 3. What! turn inquisitor, and sake evidence INCOG.
1795. BURNS, Poems, ‘Address to the Deil.’
| Then you, ye auld sneck-drawing dog, | |
| Ye cam to Paradise INCOG. |
1812. Edinburgh Review, xx. p. 113. He travels INCOG to his father’s two estates.
1819. T. MOORE, Extracts from the Diary of a Politician. INCOG. he [the king] was trav’lling about.
1826. DISRAELI, Vivian Grey, Bk. v., ch. v., p. 187 (1881). Whose well-curled black hair, diamond pin, and frogged coat hinted at the magnifico INCOG.
1828–45. HOOD, Poems. ‘Miss Kilmansegg and Her Precious Leg’ (1846), i. 215.
| A Foreign Count, —who came INCOG., | |
| Not under a cloud, but under a fog. |
d. 1866. F. S. MAHONY (‘Father Prout’), Reliques, I. 19. ‘Vert-Vert, the Parrot,’ trans. of GRESSET.
| O the vile wretch! the naughty dog! | |
| He’s surely Lucifer INCOG. |
1855. THACKERAY, The Newcomes, ii. 183. ‘Don’t call me by my name here, please Florac, I am here INCOG.’
2. (common).—Drunk: i.e., ‘disguised’ in liquor.
1823. BADCOCK (‘Jon Bee’), Dictionary of the Turf, etc., s.v. INCOG. A man drunk is INCOG. Ibid., s.v. COG: COGUE, a glass of gin or rum with sugar in it…. COGEY = drunk.
