cog

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See also: COG

English[edit]

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Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Cogwheel showing the teeth (cogs).

From Middle English cogge, from Old Norse (compare Norwegian kugg (“cog”), Swedish kugg, kugge (“cog, tooth”)), from Proto-Germanic *kuggō (compare Dutch kogge (“cogboat”), German Kock), from Proto-Indo-European *gugā (“hump, ball”) (compare Lithuanian gugà (“pommel, hump, hill”)), from *gēu- (“to bend, arch”).

The meaning of “cog” in carpentry derives from association with a tooth on a cogwheel.

Noun[edit]

cog (plural cogs)

  1. A tooth on a gear.
  2. A gear; a cogwheel.
  3. An unimportant individual in a greater system.
    • 1976, Norman Denny (English translation), Victor Hugo (original French), Les Misérables
      ‘There are twenty-five of us, but they don’t reckon I’m worth anything. I’m just a cog in the machine.’
    • 1988, David Mamet, Speed-the-Plow
      Your boss tells you “take initiative,” you best guess right—and you do, then you get no credit. Day-in, … smiling, smiling, just a cog.
  4. (carpentry) A projection or tenon at the end of a beam designed to fit into a matching opening of another piece of wood to form a joint.
  5. (mining) One of the rough pillars of stone or coal left to support the roof of a mine.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

cog (third-person singular simple present cogs, present participle cogging, simple past and past participle cogged)

  1. To furnish with a cog or cogs.

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English cogge, from Middle Dutch kogge, cogghe (modern kogge), from Proto-Germanic *kuggō (compare German Kock (“cogboat”), Norwegian kugg (“cog (gear tooth)”)), from Proto-Indo-European *gugā (“hump, ball”) (compare Lithuanian gugà (“pommel, hump, hill”)), from *gēu- (“to bend, arch”). See below.

Noun[edit]

cog (plural cogs)

  1. (historical) A ship of burden, or war with a round, bulky hull.
Translations[edit]

Etymology 3[edit]

Uncertain origin. Both verb and noun appear first in 1532.

Noun[edit]

cog (plural cogs)

  1. A trick or deception; a falsehood.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of William Watson to this entry?)
Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

cog (third-person singular simple present cogs, present participle cogging, simple past and past participle cogged)

  1. To load (a die) so that it can be used to cheat.
  2. To cheat; to play or gamble fraudulently.
    • Jonathan Swift
      For guineas in other men's breeches, / Your gamesters will palm and will cog.
  3. To seduce, or draw away, by adulation, artifice, or falsehood; to wheedle; to cozen; to cheat.
    • Shakespeare
      I'll […] cog their hearts from them.
  4. To obtrude or thrust in, by falsehood or deception; to palm off.
    to cog in a word
    • J. Dennis
      Fustian tragedies […] have, by concerted applauses, been cogged upon the town for masterpieces.
Translations[edit]

Etymology 4[edit]

From Old English cogge.

Alternative forms[edit]

Noun[edit]

cog (plural cogs)

  1. A small fishing boat.

Scottish Gaelic[edit]

Etymology[edit]

EB1911 - Volume 01 - Page 001 - 1.svg This entry lacks etymological information. If you are familiar with the origin of this term, please add it to the page per etymology instructions. You can also discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.

Verb[edit]

cog (past chog, future cogaidh, verbal noun cogadh, past participle cogte)

  1. fight
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