Obs. Med. Also cohoph. [Origin uncertain: it may be the root of next word, or merely a contraction of cohobation.
An Arabic derivation is suspected. There is a Semitic root kasab, which has in Ethiopic the sense ‘second,’ with a deriv. vb. ‘to double, repeat’; this may have occurred in a vulgar Arabic dialect. The suggestion in Littré, of Arabic kuhbat ‘dust color mixed with black’ does not explain the sense.]
‘A Paracelsian term, intended to mean repetition; thus medicines given according to Cohob, signified that they were administered with unchanging perseverance’ (Mayne, Expos. Lex., 1850–60).
