Forms: 1–6 codd, 4–7 codde, (6 cood), 4– cod. [OE. cod(d:—OTeut. type *kuddo-z: cf. early mod.Du. kodde, ‘coleus, testiculus’ (Kilian), OTeut. type *kuddon-, the source of the closely related COD sb.2]
† 1. A bag, scrip. Obs. (In 18th c. in slang use: a purse; see quots.)
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. x. 10. Ne codd on weʓe.
a. 1154. O. E. Chron., an. 1131. In his mycele codde.
a. 1440. Sir Degrev., 1492. Coddys of sendall.
1576. Inv., in Ripon Ch. Acts, 378. A codd … ij lether coodes.
1626. Bacon, Sylva (1651), § 553. There is a Cod, or Bag, that groweth commonly in the fields … full of light Dust upon the Breaking.
c. 1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Gold-Finch, he that has … a Purse or Cod of Gold in his Fob. Ibid., Cod, a good sum of Money … A rum cod, a good round sum of Money.
1785. in Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue.
† b. A civet bag, or musk-bag. (Perhaps belonging to 4 b.) Obs.
1600. Dr. Dodypoll, III. ii. in Bullen, O. Pl., III. 128. I will crown thee with a cod of Muske.
1616. B. Jonson, Epigr., xix. ‘On Sir Cod the perfumed.’ That Cod can get no widow.
c. 1622. Fletcher, Woman’s Prize, I. ii. Wks. (1647), 98/1. Selling … Of counterfeit Cods, or musty English Cracus, Switches, or stones for th’toothache.
1721. C. King, Brit. Merch., I. 300. Musk Cods 381/2 doz.
[1847–78. Halliwell, Cod … In Elizabeth’s time the little bag or purse used for perfumes was so called.]
2. † a. The husk or outer covering of any fruit or seed. b. The pod, husk or seed-vessel of a plant; esp. of peas, beans, and their congeners: cf. PEASCOD. Now dial.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., III. 112. Nim þanne winberian coddas [MS. coddes].
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Luke xv. 16. Of þam bean coddum þe þa swyn æton.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 289. Not worþe a cod.
1382. Wyclif, Luke xv. 16. Of the coddis whiche the hoggis eeten.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 85. Codde of frute or pesecodde, siliqua.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 20. Kedlokes … hath small coddes, and groweth lyke mustard sede.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb. (1586), 24. The other that beareth coddes as all kinde of pulse.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, I. xxxv. § 3. 48. The seedes are conteined in square cods.
1662. H. Stubbe, Ind. Nectar, ii. 13. He put two cods of Chile called long red Pepper.
1693. Evelyn, De la Quint. Compl. Gard., II. 145. Peas, or Pease…. All the world knows they grow in Cods.
1727. S. Switzer, Pract. Gardiner, V. xlii. 221. In the … colour of their haulm, cods, &c.
1855. Whitby Gloss., s.v., A pea cod, pea shell.
† 3. = Belly, stomach. Cf. BAG 13. Obs.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 1124. Þu mid þine fule codde, And mid þine ateliche sweore, Bi-werest maune corn vrom deore.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Pard. T., 206. O wombe, o bely, o stynkyng is thi cod.
† b. ? = Larynx. Obs.
c. 1425. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 635/20. Nomina membrorum hominis … Hoc frumen, code.
4. The integument enveloping the testicles, the scrotum; improperly in pl. testicles. (Not in polite use.)
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VII. lv. (1495), 269. The codde of the genetours.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 85. Codde, of mannys pryuyte.
1527. Andrew, Brunswyke’s Distyll. Waters, L vj. Good for a mannes yarde or coddes.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 250. The cod is a rugous and thin skin.
1632. Sherwood, The cod or cods of a man or beast, couillon, testicule.
1758. J. S., Le Dran’s Observ. Surg. (1771), Dict. Pneumatocele … Rupture in the Scrotum, or Cod.
1783. P. Pott, Chirurg., Wks. II. 14. [Ruptures] are called inguinal, scrotal, femoral … as they happen to make their appearance in the groin, cod, thigh.
† b. Applied to the inguinal sacs (formerly supposed to be the scrotum) of the beaver. (Cf. CASTOR1 2.)
1634. T. Johnson, trans. Parey’s Chirurg., 1029. The cods of the Castor or Beaver … termed Castoreum.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., III. iv. 113. Of the Beever, These cods or follicles, are found in both sexes, though somewhat more protuberant in the male.
5. The narrow closed part or bag at the lower end of a trawl-net or other fishing net.
1530. Palsgr., 206/2. Codde of a nette, le col dune retz.
1592. Lyly, Midas, IV. ii. 47. Hee that fishes for Lesbos, muste haue such a woodden net, as all the trees in Phrygia wil not serue to make the cod.
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 254. The Fisherman standing … with the Cod of the Net between his Legs.
1750. [R. Pultock], Life P. Wilkins, xxxiv. (1883), 92/2. Though my net was very long, yet for want of a bag or cod to inclose the fish, many … would swim to the extremes, and so get out.
1884. Brit. Alm. & Comp., Comp. 30. The lower part [of the net] terminates in what is called the ‘cod,’ or ‘cod-end.’
† b. transf. The center of a spider’s net or web.
1657. S. Purchas, Pol. Flying-Ins., 126. Spiders … lye in ambush in the cod or center of them out of sight.
† 6. Naut. The inmost recess of a bay or inland sea. Obs.
1675. Teonge, Diary (1825), 106. Haveing … compassed the codd, or farthermost end of it [the Mediterranean].
1743. Bulkeley & Cummins, Voy. S. Seas, 117. They steered away into the Cod of a deep Bay.
1756. P. Browne, Jamaica, 281. I found this plant near the cod of the bay.
† 7. A cocoon. Obs. (Closely akin to 2.)
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Country Farm, 489. (Silk-worms) The choice of their huskes, or cods.
1622. Bonoeil, Art of Making Silke, 24. The Silke balls, bottomes, or cods.
1706. Art of Painting (1744), 205. Shut up like a silk-worm in her cod.
1802. W. Forsyth, Fruit Trees, xxvii. (1824), 395. All of them, after casting their slough several times, spin their cod.
8. Comb. Cod-end = sense 5; cod-net, a net with a ‘cod’; † cod-pepper, capsicum; † cod-tree, the CAROB tree; † cod-weed, Centaurea nigra, or knap-weed. See also COD-BAIT, -PIECE, -WARE, -WORM.
1871. Echo, 15 Dec. The sprats are driven by the current in countless thousands into the *‘cod’ end of the net.
1883. Fisheries Exhib. Catal., 7. Roller Ground-ropes, and Cod-ends.
1299. Liber Custumarum (Rolls), II. I! y a un autre manere de reye, qe lem apele *‘codnet.’
1727. A. Hamilton, New Acc. E. Ind., II. xxxvi. 43. His Sauce is some Shrimps dried and powder’d, and some Salt and *Cod-pepper.
1704. Collect. Voy. (Churchill), III. 47/1. The Algarrobo’s or *Cod Tree.
