Heading
c. 1886. Broadside Ballad, 'The Flippity Flop Young Man.' I once was a Member-for-Slocum young man, And for Parliament had a strong fancy, A know-pretty-well-what-is-kocum young man When addressing a constituency.
2. (publishers').—A sliding scale of profit. [Publishers sometimes issue books without fixing the published price. These they sell to the retail trade at a fixed sum, leaving the bookseller to make what he can.
To fight or play cocum, verbal phr. (common). To play double; to be wary, cunning, or 'artful.'
1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant (3 ed.), p. 445, s.v. To be cunning, wary, or sly.
1885. Referee, April 26, p. 1, col. 2. The best show in the Crawfurd Plate—that is, unless a lot of the pulling-up division were playing cokum—was that of Ptolemy.
Cod, subs. (common).—1. A fool.
[Cf., Cod's head, of which it is
possibly an abbreviation.] For
synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.
2. (tailors').—A drunkard.—[See verb, sense 2.]
3. (thieves').—A purse; a cod of money = a large sum of money. [A.S. cod or codd, a small bag.] For synonyms, see Poge.
4. (street).—A 'pal' or friend; generally prefixed to a surname. [Here cod is the diminutive of 'codlin,' an old endearment.] Cf., Codd.
Verb (common).—1. To play the fool; to monkey (q.v.).
2. (tailors').—To go on the drink; generally, to act loosely.
3. (common).—To chaff; hoax; 'take a rise out of.'
1865. Evening Citizen, 28 Nov. Codding a Town Council.—The Fife Circular, Kirkcaldy, says:—According to usual practice, several members of the new Town Council attended divine service at the Parish Church on Sunday forenoon last. The Rev. M. J. Bryden officiated, and preached an eloquent and appropriate sermon to the Council from these words in the 10th chapter of St. Matthew:—'Ye are of more value than many sparrows.'
1884. W. C. Russell, Jack's Courtship, ch. xxxi. 'What do you think of that, cook?' 'Think?' answered the cook, who had a rather sour eye; 'why, that that rough sailor man was a-coddin' of you, sir.'
Codd or Cod, subs. (Charterhouse).—A
pensioner of the Charterhouse.—See
quot., and Cf., Cod,
sense 4.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, II., p. 333. Yonder sit some three score of gentlemen, pensioners of the hospital, listening to the prayers and psalms. You hear them coughing feebly in the twilight—the old reverend blackgowns. Is Codd Ajax alive, you wonder?—the Cistercian lads called these old gentlemen Codds, I know not wherefore—I know not wherefore—but is old Codd Ajax alive, I wonder? or Codd Soldier? or kind old Codd Gentleman? or has the grave closed over them?
Coddam or Coddom, subs. (common).—A
public-house game
played three, four, or more a side.
The only 'property' required is
a coin, a button, or anything
which can be hidden in the
clenched hand. The principle
of the game, which is simplicity
itself, is that of 'Guess whose
hand it's in.' If the guesser
'brings it home,' his side takes
the 'piece,' and the centre man
'works' it. If the guess be
wrong, a chalk is taken to the
holders, who go on again.
1884. J. Greenwood, Seven Years Penal Servitude. The convicts take advantage of that to the extent sometimes of playing a gambling game called coddom
