cock-sure 
cock-sure (kok'shSr), adv. [< cocksure, a.] 
With perfect security or certainty. 
We steal us in a ra-llr, BMfefWI . "< have tin- ri-ccipt of 
fern-sued, we walk invisible. .S'/irtA.-., 1 Hen. IV., 11. 1. 
cock-sureness (kok'shor-nes), n. Confident 
certainty. 
Of all the dangcroui* mental habits, that which school- 
boys call cuckxttr>-iti'xx is prubuhly tin- inn^t perilous. 
tlnj-t'-ii. Senstti"M ainl >rn-iti r.'ii- Orpin*. 
cockswain, coxswain (kok'swan ; colloq. kok'- 
sn), . [Also contr. cockson, CIISHII ; < 7.'x, 
poss. of cock*, a boat, + swain. Cf. boatxiniin. \ 
The person who Htcers a boat; a person on 
board of a ship who has the care of a boat and 
its crow under an officer. 
Their majesties, Lord Carteret, and Sir John Norris, cm- 
Imrkcil in Sir John's barge, and his eaplain Mei-red the 
boat as coxxwain. .1. /'/-i'/<*m/c/, Tnm-N, p. 70. 
cocktail (kok'tal), 71. [< cor/, 1 (in part with al- 
lusion to mrk", c.) -f tail 1 . The origin of the 
term in the 3d and 4th nouses is not clear.] 1. 
A bird of the genus Alcctrurus. 2. [So ralleil 
from the way it cocks up its abdomen.] A 
name of a European insect, Octjpus or Goerius 
olens, one of the rove-beetles or Stmkjfl/laUdct, 
Also called dcriVs coach-horse (which see, un- 
der devil). 3. A horse which is not thorough- 
bred, but has some impure blood, generally one 
fourth or less, but sometimes one half; hence, 
an underbred person. 
But servitors are gentlemen, I suppose ? A good deal 
of the cocktail about them, I should think. 
Macmillan's Mag. 
4. An American drink, strong, stimulating, and 
cold, made of spirits, bitters, and a little sugar, 
with various aromatic and stimulating addi- 
tions. 
Being famous for nothing but gin-cocktails, and com- 
manding a fair salary by his one accomplishment. 
lla wthorne, 111 it hedale Romance, xxi. 
Did ye ivcr try a brandy cock-tail, Cornel 1 
Thackeray, Newcomes, xiii. 
Champagne cocktail, a glass of champagne (preferably 
of the Kheims sort) witll a few drops of Angostura bitters. 
Soda cocktail, a glass of soda-water with a little bit- 
COCk-tailed (kok'tald), a. [< cocktail + -cd 2 .] 
Having the tail cocked or tilted up : as, the cock- 
tuilril flycatcher, Alectrurus tricolor. 
cock-throwing (kok'thro'ing), n. An old sport 
consisting in tying a cock to a stake and throw- 
ing sticks at it until it was killed. See cock- 
stele. 
Cock-throning, 
Cock-a-doodle do ! 'tis the bravest game. 
Wit's Recreation, 1640. 
The very barbarous amusement of code -throwing, which 
was at least as old as Chaucer, and in which Sir T. More 
when a young man had been especially expert, is said to 
have been peculiarly English. Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent. , iv. 
cock-up (kok'up), a. In printing, having the 
top much above the top line of the other letters 
of the text: applied to a large type used for 
the initial letter of the first word of a volume, 
part, book, or chapter. 
cockup (kok'up), n. [In def. 1, prob. so called 
from the trendof thesnout.] 1. A serranoid fish, 
Lates calcarifer, of the seas, back-waters, and 
months of rivers of India and neighboring coun- 
tries. It has an oblong compressed body, moderate 
scales, small head with incurved sloping profile, from 7 to 
8 spines in the first dorsal, 2 spines and from 11 to 12 rays 
in the second, 3 spines and from 8 to D rays in the anal, and 
convex caudal fin. The color is gray inclining to green on 
the back and silvery below. It is an excellent food-fish, 
both fresh and salted, and from it some of the best tam- 
arind-fish is preserved. By Cuvier and Valenciennes it 
was named Lates nuMii, and by that name it was known 
to most naturalists up to 1860. It is ranked by some 
naturalists as a fresh-water fish, and occurs in all the 
large rivers of India and Burma. It is predatory in its 
habits, and ascends far up the rivers, especially in the 
wake of shoals of a kind of shad, Clupea palanah, and 
reaches as high as Maudalay, in Upper Burma, about 650 
miles from the sea. 
2f. An old form of hat with the brim much 
turned up in front. 
cockwardt, . An obsolete form of cuckold. 
cock-water (kok'wa'ter), n. In mining, a 
stream of water brought into a trough to wash 
away sand from ores. 
cockweb (kok'web), n. A dialectal variant of 
cobiceb. 
cockweed (kok'wed), n. [< coet 1 + weed 1 .] 
A European plant, Lepidium latifolium. Also 
called dittander and pepiiencort. 
COckwoldt, . An obsolete form of cuckold. 
cocky (kok'i), a. [< cock 1 + -y 1 , perhaps as 
a modification of cockefi : see cocket 3 , and 
cf. cockish.] Pert; self-confident; conceited. 
[Colloq.] 
Doubtless this was rash, but I was immensely cocky about 
my brigade, and believed it would prove ei|ual to any de- 
mand. #. A. Rev., CXXVI. 240. 
1081 
COckygee (kok'i-jo), n. A rough sour apple. 
1 1'rov. Knj;. ] 
cockyoly-bird (kok'i-ol-i-herd), . [Appar. a 
liini-itiil perversion of cocA'l, or cocky, + yclloic- 
liint.] The yellowhammcr, /.'// ii:n citrinella. 
[Bag.] 
cocoa 1 , COCO (ko'ko), n. [More correctly coco, 
early mod. E. cum, <Y/M (earlier, as if M,.. 
I-III-HH, cocoa*); = P. coco, < Sp. Pg. coco = It. 
rnrm, cocoanut 
(cf. NL. cocux, 
now coco*, > D. G. 
Dan. Sw. kkx- 
( in comp.), cocoa), 
prob. < Gr. noiia, 
the cocoa-tree, co- 
coanut ; perhaps 
of Kgyptian ori- 
gin: cf. utif, an 
Kgyptian kind of 
palm. Tin- resem- 
blance of the Sp. 
Pg. name to 8p. 
Pg. coco, a word 
used to frighten 
children, a bug- 
bear, is prob. acci- 
dental. The spell- 
ing cocoa is due to 
confusion with ea- 
cno, which is also 
spelled cocoa .- see , ,-, K< ^.- 
COCOa 2 .] A palm C oco M ,..p.lm(0,.^irr.). 
belonging to the 
genus Cocos, producing the cocoanut. c. nucifem 
is everywhere cultivated in tropical regions, but more espe- 
cially on islands or near the sea. It has a cylindrical stem 
rising to a height of to 90 feet, and surmounted by a 
crown of feather-like leaves from 18 to 20 feet long. The 
small white flowers grow on a branching spadix, inclosed 
in a hard tough spathe. The fruits, called cocoanuts, are in 
bundles of from 12 to 20, and are of a subtriangular ovoid 
form, 12 inches long by 6 broad. They have each a single 
seed Inclosed in a very hard shell, and surrounded by a 
thick fibrous rind or husk. This fiber, called coir, is made 
Into cordage, matting, brushes, bags, etc. The flesh or 
meat of the cocoanut is a white pleasant-tasting mass, 
soft and gelatinous when young, hut afterward lining the 
shell in a thick close layer ; it is largely used as a con- 
diment and in cookery and confectionery, and yields the 
valuable cocoamit-oll (which see). The nut also contains 
when fresh from one to two pints of a clear pleasant liquid 
called the milk. The mature shell takes a high polish, 
and is made into drinking-cups and other utensils and 
ornaments. Its various uses make the cocoanut an im- 
portant article of commerce. A spirit called toddy or ar- 
rack is made from the sweet juice of the spathe. Indeed, 
almost every part of the tree is employed in tropical coun- 
tries for some useful purpose. The heart, which Is seldom 
sound, is of a light yellowish-brown color, which changes 
to a deep brown, almost black The firm part of the trunk 
is the so-called porcupine-wood, which is very hard and 
durable, and is much used for all kinds of turnery, and 
especially for inlaying. Also called cocoa-tree, cocoanut- 
tree. 
But of greater admiration is the Coguo-tree, being the 
most profitable tree in the world, of which in the Hands 
of Maldiiu they make and furnish whole ships. 
furchai, Pilgrimage, p. 505. 
The slender coco'i drooping crown of plumes. 
Tennyson, Enoch Arden. 
COCOa 2 (ko'ko), n. [A corruption of cacao, by 
confusion with cocoa 1 , coco.] 1. A corrupted 
form of cacao. 2. The ground kernels of the 
cacao or chocolate-tree. See cacao and Theobro- 
ma. Brazilian cocoa, guarana. Cocoa-nibs, -shells. 
See cacao. 
cocoanut, coconut (ko'ko-nut), n. [More cor- 
rectly coconut (also in commercial use (in Eng- 
land) cokernut) ; < cocoa 1 , coco, + nut.] The nut 
or fruit of the cocoa-tree. See cocoa 1 . 
The most precious inheritance of a Singhalese is his an- 
cestral garden of coco-nuts. 
Sir J. E. Tennent, Ceylon, vii. 2. 
Cocoanut matting. See matting. Double cocoanut, 
or coco-df-mer, the Irtiit of a remarkable palm, Lodoicfa 
SuhtUanim, found native only on the Seychelles, In the In- 
dian ocean, and growing to a height of from 50 to 100 feet, 
with a crown of gigantic palmate leaves. The fruit often 
weighs 40 or 50 pounds, and usually contains 4 nuts, which 
are 18 inches long, lobed at each end. Before maturing 
the inside of the nut Is soft and eatable. The hard black 
shell is carved into ornaments, the young leaves yield an 
admirable material for baskets and plaited work, and the 
older leaves are used for partitions and thatching. The 
nuts, driven across the sea by the monsoons, were known 
in India long before the discovery of the tree which pro- 
duced them, and wonderful stories were current respect- 
Ing their origin. Sea-cocoanut, of Jamaica, the fruit of 
a species of Manicaria, a palm of Trinidad and the South 
American coast, often washed ashore upon that island. 
cocoanut-crab (ko'ko-nut-krab), n. A crusta- 
cean, liirgus latro, related to the hermit-crabs, 
inhabiting certain islands of the East Indian 
archipelago and Pacific ocean. It lives to a large 
extent on cocoanuts. With its strong claws it peels off 
the husk, and makes an opening in the shell through 
which it extracts the kernel. It lives in deep burrows and 
is diurnal in habit. 
cocquel 
COCOanut-oil (ko'ko-nut-oil), . An oil ob- 
tained from the fruit of the Cocos nucifera, or 
cocoa-palm. iti-pi-i 
w)l< IV UlC fruit alnMili !.-. llotll l>\ 'i 
'ii, antl i-. UM-il fur li-htnrj tti'- 1'" I'arati'-n 
Kill-Ills, rtr. It is r\j.it--<l 1.. :i r. nsidl r.iM' extent 
manilla' I 'II < <! In Ian [" ali'i 1 1 
cocoanuU or from I-HM 
ilh -iilphi'l i>f rarlxin. <'lirini> allv 
cnliar sntistaii' . i < inin, with a small <|ilautit) <>f nli in. 
By Kaponitk-atinn c.^inin yields [_]>,, nn ai-l 
'Hi'- Mil i^ \vliitr, rif til'- cin-i-t-]ir.' .,! lal'i. all'l li:i 
lure somewhat foliated. It is largely UM-<! in tin pivpnra- 
ti- in <>f c-anilles and the so-called fnlling-soaps. Alx><a!ll 
ct>ctm-<nL. 
cocoanut-tree (ko'ko-nut-tre). . See <<> i. 
cocoa-Oil (ko'ko-oil), . Same as eocoanut-nil. 
cocoa-plum (k6'kf>-|>lum), n. See plum. 
cocoa-powder (k<i'k6-pou'd6r), n. [< cocoa 2 + 
limnier.] A slow-burning prismatic gunpow- 
der of a brownish color, designed for use in 
guns of the largest caliber, its action is such as to 
give high velocities t<i I he jirnji-i -tilr with Inw or moderate 
pressures in the iHire. The name Is derived from ltd re- 
semblance in color to cocoa or < liomlat-- Tin- color is 
supposed to be due to the use of uinli-r Imriiri! charcoal 
in its composition. It was first made in i;i-rmany. 
COCOa-tree (ko'ko-tre), n. See mmttl. 
coco-de-mer (ko'ko-de-mSrX n. [F. : coco, co- 
coa; oV, < L. de, of; mer, < L. marc, sea: see 
cocoa 1 and marine.] Same as double cocoanut 
(which see, under cocoanut). 
cocoe, . See cocco. 
cocoi (ko-koi'), n. [S. Ainer. native name.] 
A large South American heron, Artlea cocoi, re- 
lated to the great blue heron of North America. 
coconut, n. See cocoanut. 
cocoon 1 (ko-kon'), . [= D. G. cocon = Dan. ko- 
,< F. cocon, dim. of coque, a shell, the shell of 
an egg or insect, a cocoon, < L. concha, a shell- 
fish, shell: see cocA.-*, conch, cockle'*, etc.] 1. 
The silky tissue or envelop which the larvso of 
many insects spin as a covering for themselves 
while they are in the chrysalis state. The 
cocoon of the silkworm is a familiar example. 
See cut under Bombyx. 
Tile mind can weave itself warmly in the cocoon of IU 
own thoughts and dwell a hermit anywhere. 
Lowell, Study Windows, p. 67. 
As rich as moths from dusk cocnom. 
Tennyson, Princess, ii. 
2. The silken case in which many spiders in- 
close their eggs. In some species the mother Incloses 
herself with the eggs until they are hatched ; In others 
she carries the cocoon about with her, or conceals it near 
her web, until the young emerge. 
3. Generally, an egg-case, such as is produced 
by various animals. 
The eggs of the Earthworm are laid in chitinous cocovni 
or cases, which are probably secreted by the clitella. 
Huxley, Anat. Invert., p. IDS. 
Calcined cocoons, one of the grades into which silk- 
cocoons are sorted. It comprises those in which the 
worm has died after it has completed its work and has 
become reduced to a powdery substance. 
COCOOn 2 (ko-kon'), n. [Cf. coquetoon. a kind of 
antelope.]" The South African bastard wilde- 
beest or brindled gnu, Catoblepas gorgon. Dal- 
las. 
cocoonery (ko-ko'ner-i), .; pi. coeooneries 
(-iz). [< cocoon 1 4- -cry.] A building or an 
apartment for silkworms when feeding and 
forming cocoons. 
Vast cocooneries are subject to disaster. 
National Baptist, XIX. 634. 
COCOOning (ko-kS'ning), n. [< cocoon 1 + -in^ 1 .] 
The act of forming or spinning cocoons. 
The cocooniny habits of Lycosa. Science, III. 686. 
COCOrite (ko'ko-rlt), n. [Braz.] A small palm 
of Brazil, the MaaetmtUana insignia. Its trunk 
yields a hard reddish wood. 
COCOS (ko'kos), n. [NL. : see cocoa 1 .] A ge- 
nus of pinnate-leaved palms, of which the cocoa- 
nut-tree is the type, distinguished by the large 
fibrous-coated fruit, inclosing a single bony nut 
with three pores at its base. There are aiiout so 
species, natives of tropical and subtropical America, of 
which the only one cultivated is C. nucifera, now found 
in all tropical countries, and perhaps indigenous also in the 
old world. The seeds of C. btityracea of Brazil yield an 
oil similar to that extracted from the cocoanut. and from 
C. acvleata is obtained a yellowish oil with a violet-like 
odor, known as Macaja butter. See cut under rocoal. 
COCOStearic (ko'ko-ste-ar'ik), a. [< cocoa 1 + 
stearic.] Derived from cocoa and resembling 
in properties stearic acid. Cocostearic add. 
Same as cocinic acid. 
COCO-WOOd (ko'ko-wud), n. 1. A very hard, 
close-grained, dark-brown wood, obtained from 
Aporosa dioica, a euphorbiaceous tree of Ben- 
gal and Burma. Also called kokra-wood. 2. 
A wood of the West Indies, said to be the pro- 
duct of Inga vera, a common leguminous tree. 
cocquelt, . See cockle 2 . 
