Heading
to-morrow?' 'Oh, I think so, sir,' says the trainer. 'But look here,' says the owner, 'This is a much better class. He is meeting this horse upon no better terms than before.' 'But, sir,' says the trainer, 'he has greatly improved. The sun has got into his coat.'
Coax, verb (old).—To dissemble
in the shoes the soiled or ragged
parts of a pair of stockings.—[Grose,
1785.]
Cob, subs. (prison).—1. A punishment
cell. For synonyms,
see Clinch.
2. (nautical).—Money. Especially given to a Spanish coin formerly current in Ireland, worth about 4s. 8d. Also the name still given at Gibraltar to a Spanish dollar.
1805. Plymouth Newspaper of Feb. 24, quoted in 'Autobiography of a Seaman,' by Earl of Dundonald, vol. I., ch. x., p. 174. His Lordship sent word to Plymouth that, if ever it was in his power he would fulfil his public advertisement (stuck up here) for entering seamen, of filling their pockets with Spanish 'pewter' and 'cobs,' nicknames given by seamen to ingots and dollars.
3. (Winchester College).—A hard hit at cricket. Of modern introduction. Cf., Barter.
Verb (schoolboys').—1. To detect, catch, etc.
2. (popular).—To humbug; deceive; to gammon (q.v.).
3. To hit hard.—See subs., sense 3.
Cobb, verb (general).—To spank;
to smack the posteriors with
(say) a tailor's sleeve-board.
1830. Marryat, King's Own. Gentlemen, gentlemen, if you must cobb Mrs. Skrimmage, for God's sake let it be over all.
Cobber, subs. (common).—A prodigious
falsehood; i.e., 'a
thumper'; whopper (q.v.).
Cobble-Colter, subs. (old).—A
turkey. Fr., une ornie de balle
and un Jésuite. Cf., Alderman
in chains.
1785. GROSE, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1837. Disraeli, Venetia, p. 69. 'Come, old mort,' said the leader, in a very different tone to the one in which he addressed his young guest, 'tout the cobble-colter; are we to have darkmans upon us?
Cobbled, ppl. adj. (schoolboys').—Caught;
detected; spotted.
[From cob, verb, sense 1.]
Cobblers' Knock. To give the
cobbler's knock or to knock
at the cobbler's door, verbal
phr. (provincial).—A sort of
fancy sliding in which the artist
raps the ice in triplets with one
foot while progressing swiftly on
the other.
1836. Dickens, Pickwick, vol. ii., ch. 2. Sam Weller, in particular was displaying that beautiful feat of fancy sliding which is currently called knocking at the cobbler's door, and which is achieved by skimming over the ice on one foot and occasionally giving a postman's knock upon it with the other.
Cobblers' Marbles, subs. phr.
(vulgar).—A corrupt pronunciation
of cholera morbus, once a
name for Asiatic cholera.
Cobbler's Thumb, subs. (Irish
localism).—A small fish; the
bull-head, called in English the
miller's thumb.
1839. Lever, Harry Lorrequer, ch. xxvii. His hands and feet, forming some compensation by their ample proportions, give to his entire air and appearance somewhat the look of a small fish, with short, thick fins, vulgarly called a cobbler's thumb.
