Heading
1817. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. xii. 'It's hard I should get raps over the costard.'
Cotch, verb (vulgar).—To catch.
[A corruption.] Also ppl. adj.,
cotched.
1889. Pall Mall Gaz., Oct. 12, p. 5, col. 2. Taken before some French beak whom he did not know, and an interpreter brought, the cotched culprit was made to pay 20 f.
Cots, subs. (Christ's Hospital).—See
quot. [A corruption of
'cotton.']
1810. Charles Lamb, Recollections of Christ's Hospital [1835], p. 24. The Cots, or superior Shoe Strings of the Monitors.
COTSOLD or Cotswold Lion, subs.
phr. (old).—A sheep. Mentioned
by Ray in his proverbs. For
synonyms, see Wool-bird.
1615. Harington, Epigrams, bk. III., ep. 18. Lo then the mystery from whence the name Of Cotsold lyons first to England came.
Cotton-Lord or King, subs. (common).—A
wealthy cotton manufacturer.
1883. Hawley Smart, Hard Lines, ch. xix. 'But, Mr. Fulsby [a Manchester man], the country will never . . . do away with the army because you cotton lords consider it unnecessary.'
Cottonopolis, subs. (general).—Manchester.
[In allusion to the
staple.] Cf., Albertopolis,
Cubitopolis, Hygeiapolis.
1884. Echo, May 12, p. 4, col. 2. For the big race [Manchester Cup] at Cottonopolis a fine lot are let in.
Cottons, subs. (Stock Exchange).—Confederate
Bonds. [From
the staple of the Southern
States.]
Cotton To, verb (common).—To
take a fancy to; to unite with;
to agree with. In the last sense
it is found occasionally in the
Elizabethan writers, and is
American by survival. [As regards
derivation, it comes from
the Welsh cytuno, to agree, to
consent. ]
Some French analogues are:—Avoir un béguin pour quelqu'un and avoir un pépin pour une femme; one who cottons to another is by students called un colleur; while concubinage by sheer force of habit is damned as le collage.
1582. Stanyhurst, Virgil, p. 19 (Arber). If this geare cotten, what wight wyl yeelde to myn aulters Bright honor and Sacrifice.
1605. Play of Stucley, I., 290. John a Nokes and John a Style and I cannot cotton.
1837. Barham, I. L. (The Bagman's Story). For when once Madam Fortune deals out her hard raps, It's amazing to think, How one cottons to drink!
1846. Punch, vol. II., p. 12. I agree in the words of Mrs. Judy, who says, 'My dear, I hope one day to see Peel and Cobden cotton together.
1864. Derby Day, p. 152. 'You stop here and cotton up to the gipsies,' exclaimed Charley Brickwood.
1880. Ouida; Moths, ch. vii. 'Ride? Ah! That's a thing I don't cotton to anyhow,' said Miss Fuschia Leach, who had found that her talent did not lie that way.
To die with cotton in one's ears, phr. (obsolete).—See quots.
1821. P. Egan, Tom and Jerry [ed 1890), p. 92. Many of the most hardened and desperate offenders, from the kindness, attention, and soothing conduct of the Rev. Mr. Cotton [the chaplain at Newgate, 1821], who is indefatigable in administering consolation to their troubled minds, have become the most sincere penitents.
1864. Athenæum, 29 Oct., No. 1931. Rev. of Sl. Dict.' When a late chaplain
