[A corruption of CACAO, in 16–18th c. also written cacoa, and sometimes in 18th c. cocao. Cacao was the Spanish adaptation of cacauatl (or rather of its combining form cacaua-), the Mexican name of the cacao-seed.
The word was orig. of 3 syllables, ca-ca·-o, co-co·-a, but the error of spelling coco as cocoa has led to the further corruption of pronouncing cocoa as coco.]
† 1. The seed of Theobroma Cacao, a tropical American tree: more correctly called CACAO. Obs. Formerly commonly called cocoa-nut, and now often cocoa-bean.
1707. W. Funnell, Voy. Round World, v. 89. The Nut or Kernel … ripens in a great Husk, wherein are sometimes 30, nay 40 Cocoas. These Cocoas are made use of to make Chocolate.
1790. Beatson, Nav. & Mil. Mem., I. 115. A French Ship from the Havannah, with sugar, cochineal, and cocoa.
2. The Cacao-tree. (rare and improper.)
1876. Harley, Mat. Med., 708. Cocoa, this small tree furnishes a product which is extremely useful both as food and medicine.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., III. 187. Cocoa … A tree twenty feet in height.
3. The powder produced by crushing and grinding the seeds, often with other substances added; also, a common beverage made from this powder, or from the prepared seeds. (The ordinary sense.)
1788. Burns, Lett., Wks. 35. I executed your commission in Glasgow, and I hope the cocoa came safe.
1798. Jane Austen, Northang. Abb. (1833), II. x. 168. The General, between his cocoa and his newspaper, had luckily no leisure for noticing her.
1855. J. F. Johnston, Chem. Com. Life, I. (1859), 221. The cocoa of Trinidad is the variety chiefly consumed in this country.
Mod. Many now drink cocoa in preference to coffee.
4. attrib. and Comb. Cocoa bean, a recent name of the cacao seed; cocoa-butter, cocoa-fat = CACAO-BUTTER; Cocoa-nib, the cotyledon of the cacao seed, being one of the states in which it is sold; † cocoa-nut, the name formerly given to the cacao seed; now disused, to avoid confusion with the current cocoa-nut = COCO-NUT; cocoa-paste, the pasty mass formed by grinding the seed, in which state it was formerly imported; cocoa powder, a light brown sort of gunpowder; cocoa-room, -tavern, places for the sale of the beverage; cocoa-tea (see quot.); cocoa-tree, the cacao tree. Also cocoa-essence, extract, etc., cocoa-colo(u)red adj.
1855. J. F. Johnston, Chem. Com. Life, I. (1859), 223. The *cocoa-bean of commerce is brittle.
1871. Mateer, Travancore, 96. Oranges and lemons, the bread-fruit, cocoa bean…, mangosteen, and others appear to deserve more attention and more extended cultivation.
1887. ‘F. Anstey,’ in Macm. Mag., Feb., 257/2. I looked round in helpless bewilderment … at the *cocoa-coloured Row, and the flash of distant carriage-wheels in the sun-light.
1866. Treas. Bot., 1143/2. The cotyledons, commonly called *‘cocoa-nibs,’ [are] afterwards crushed and ground between heated rollers.
1672. W. Hughes (title), The American Physitian … Whereunto is added A Discourse on the *Cocoa-nut-tree, and … making of Chocolate.
1724. Abstr. Act 10 Geo. I., in Lond. Gaz., No. 6270/6. Every … Seller of … Coffee, Tea, or Cocoa-Nuts.
1751. Sir J. Hill, Mat. Med., 475 (J.). A Cavity, within which are lodg’d the Cocoa Nuts…, usually about thirty in each Fruit.
1716. Lond. Gaz., No. 5416/3. *Coco-Paste, Chocolate.
1750. Beawes, Lex Mercat. (1752), 55. Cocoa-Nuts, Chocolate, and Cocoa-Paste.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 13 Nov., 3/2. At present we are buying *cocoa powder from Germany.
1885. Globe, 31 Jan., 2/3. The War Department has adopted the new brown gunpowder, known as the ‘cocoa’ powder … manufactured at … Waltham Abbey. It creates a very thin smoke, and does not obscure the targets.
1877. A. Balfour, in Life, xiii. (1889), 283. Successful meetings of … Temperance Society, of *Cocoa-rooms opening, etc.
1836. Disraeli, Corr. w. Sister (1886), 47. Sophy is only ill from eating *cocoa sweetmeat!
1855. J. F. Johnston, Chem. Com. Life, I. (1859), 224. Another variety of the cocoa beverages, and which may be called *cocoa-tea, is prepared by boiling the husks of the bean in water.
1707. Funnell, Voy. (1729), 59. The *Cocoa-Tree is small, and the Nut or Kernel bigger than an Almond.
Cocoa2, another form of COCCO.
