Part 320

Cob"swan` (?), n. A large swan. B. Jonson.

Cob"wall` (?), n. [Cob clay mixed with straw + wall.] A wall made of clay mixed with straw.

Cob"web` (?), n. [Cob a spider + web.] 1. The network spread by a spider to catch its prey.

2. A snare of insidious meshes designed to catch the ignorant and unwary.

I can not but lament thy splendid wit Entangled in the cobwebs of the schools. Cowper.

3. That which is thin and unsubstantial, or flimsy and worthless; rubbish.

The dust and cobwebs of that uncivil age. Sir P. Sidney.

4. (Zo÷l.) The European spotted flycatcher.

Cobweb lawn, a fine linen, mentioned in 1640 as being in pieces of fifteen yards. Beck. Draper's Dict.

Such a proud piece of cobweb lawn. Beau. & Fl.

-- Cobweb micrometer, a micrometer in which threads of cobweb are substituted for wires.

Cob"webbed` (?), a. Abounding in cobwebs. "The cobwebbed cottage." Young.

Cob"web`by (?), a. Abounding in cobwebs, or any fine web; resembling a cobweb.

Cob"work` (?), a. Built of logs, etc., laid horizontally, with the ends dovetailed together at the corners, as in a log house; in marine work, often surrounding a central space filled with stones; as, a cobwork dock or breakwater.

Co"ca (?), n. [Sp., fr. native name.] The dried leaf of a South American shrub (Erythroxylon Coca). In med., called Erythroxylon.

&fist; Coca leaves resemble tea leaves in size, shape, and odor, and are chewed (with an alkali) by natives of Peru and Bolivia to impart vigor in prolonged exertion, or to sustain strength in absence of food.

Mexican coca, an American herb (Richardsonia scabra), yielding a nutritious fodder. Its roots are used as a substitute for ipecacuanha.

Coc*agne" (?), n. [F. cocagne, pays de cocagne; of uncertian origin, cf. Prov. F. couque cake, Catal. coca, L. coquere to cook; as if the houses in this country were covered with cakes. Cf. Cook, Cockney.] 1. An imaginary country of idleness and luxury.

2. The land of cockneys; cockneydom; -- a term applied to London and its suburbs. Smart.

Co"ca*ine (?), n. (Chem.) A powerful alkaloid, C17H21NO4, obtained from the leaves of coca. It is a bitter, white, crystalline substance, and is remarkable for producing local insensibility to pain.

Coc*cif"er*ous (?), a. [L. coccum a berry + -ferous. See Coccus.] Bearing or producing berries; bacciferous; as, cocciferous trees or plants.

||Coc`ci*nel"la (?), n. [NL., fr. L. coccineus scarlet-colored. See Cochoneal.] (Zo÷l.) A genus of small beetles of many species. They and their larvŠ feed on aphids or plant lice, and hence are of great benefit to man. Also called ladybirds and ladybugs.

||Coc`co*bac*te"ri*um (?), n.; pl. Coccobacteria (#). [NL., fr. Gr. &?; a grain + NL. bacterium. So called from its round shape.] (Biol.) One of the round variety of bacteria, a vegetable organism, generally less than a thousandth of a millimeter in diameter.

Coc"co*lite (?), n. [Gr. &?; a grain, seed + -lite: cf. F. coccalite.] (Min.) A granular variety of pyroxene, green or white in color.

Coc"co*lith (?), n. [Gr. &?; a grain, seed + -lith.] (Biol.) One of a kind of minute, calcareous bodies, probably vegetable, often abundant in deep-sea mud.

Coc"co*sphere (?), n. [Gr. &?; a grain, seed + E. sphere.] (Biol.) A small, rounded, marine organism, capable of braking up into coccoliths.

||Coc*cos"te*us (?), n. [NL., from Gr. &?; grain, seed + &?; bone.] (Paleon.) An extinct genus of Devonian ganoid fishes, having the broad plates about the head studded with berrylike tubercles.

||Coc"cu*lus In"di*cus (?), n. [NL. cocculus (dim. of L. coccum kermes berry) + L. Indicus of India.] (Bot.) The fruit or berry of the Anamirta Cocculus, a climbing plant of the East Indies. It is a poisonous narcotic and stimulant.