Cog

Pronunciation

• RP enPR: kŏg, IPA: /kÉ’É¡/
• Rhymes: -É’É¡
• GenAm enPR: kŏg, IPA: /kÉ‘É¡/
• Rhymes: -É‘É¡

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.

Full definition of cog

Noun

1. (historical) A ship of burden, or war with a round, bulky hull.
• 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book V:As the Kynge was in his cog and lay in his caban, he felle in a slumberyng ….

From Middle English cogge, from Old Norse (compare Norwegian kugg ("cog"), Swedish kugg, kugge ("cog, tooth")), from Proto-Germanic *kuʒʒō (compare Dutch kogge ("cogboat"), German Kock ("id.")), 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

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), ‘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, 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

• cog joint

Verb

1. To furnish with a cog or cogs.

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

Noun

1. A trick or deception; a falsehood.

Verb

1. to load (a die) so that it can be used to cheat
2. to cheat; to play or gamble fraudulently
• Jonathan SwiftFor 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.
• ShakespeareI'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. DennisFustian tragedies ... have, by concerted applauses, been cogged upon the town for masterpieces.

From Old English cogge

Alternative forms

• cogue

Noun

1. A small fishing boat----