Also 5 cobarde, coberte, 6 coberd, 8–9 dial. cobbit. Obs. or dial. See quot. 1879, and cf. COB-IRON.
c. 1425. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 663/28. Nomina pertinencia ad pistrinum: Hec uertebra, cobarde.
1481. Will of Langwith (Somerset Ho.). Rakkes oþerwise called cobertes.
1483. Act 1 Rich. III., c. 12 § 2. No Merchant Stranger … shall bring … Andyrons, Cobbards, Tongs, Fireforks, Gredyrons.
1539. Inv. Dale Priory, Derby, in Archæol., XLIII. 222. A payr of coberds.
c. 1758. in Miss Jackson, Shropshire Word-bk., 1 Paire of Cobbits. Ibid. (1879), Cobbits, two iron bars having knobs at the upper end to rest upon the andirons; meeting at the opposite extremity on the centre of the hearth, they form a kind of cradle for the firewood…. The term still (1873), lingers amongst the old people, though the things which it expresses are rarely to be seen.
