Now rare except in comb. Forms: (1 cáwel, cáwl, cául, ? cál), 4 col, 5– cole, (5 coole, coule, koule, chool, cowle, coyle, coylle, coole; also 3–4 cal, 3–9 cale, 6– kail, 8– KALE, q.v.). [The ME. col, cole, and the northern equivalent cal, kal (now KALE, kail), point back either to an OE. cál, contr. from cáwel, cáwl, or to the ON. kál: ad. L. caul-is stem, stalk, cabbage (see CAUL), whence It. cavolo, Pr. coul, Sp. col, OF. chol, F. chou. In the other Teutonic langs. ON. kál (Sw. kål, Da. kaal), also OHG. chôl (from *chaul), MHG. kól, mod.G. kohl, beside which appear OHG. chôlo m., chôla f., MHG. kôle, MDu. côle f., Du. kool f., all introduced with the plant from Latin-speaking countries at an early date. So also in the Celtic langs., Ir. and Gael. cál, Welsh cawl, Corn. caul, Manx kail, Breton kaol. The frequent ME. CAUL was perh. taken afresh from L. caulis.]

1

  1.  A general name for various species of Brassica; now esp. Rape (B. Napus); also applied to Sea-Kale (Crambe maritima).

2

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., II. 80. Nim … þone bradan cawel nioþoweardne.

3

c. 1340.  Cursor M., 12526 (Trin.). Whil þei were þat col gederonde.

4

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. cxiv. (1495), 677. Some coole is Somer coole and some is Wynter cole.

5

c. 1420.  Liber Cocorum (1862), 48. Take cole and strype hom thorowghe thi honde.

6

c. 1450.  Cookery Bks., 69. Take Colys, and stripe hem faire fro the stalkes.

7

1483.  Caxton, Gold. Leg., 114/1. Hys gardyn where he had sette cooles and wortes. Ibid. (1491), Vitas Patr. (W. de W., 1495), I. vii. 11 b/2. A lytyll drie brede & wortes of chool.

8

1551.  Turner, Herbal, I. G ij a. Cole taken after meat, dryueth away the euel … yt cummeth of surffettyng.

9

1597.  Gerarde, Herbal, II. xli. 317. Rape Cole hath one single long root.

10

1699.  Evelyn, Acetaria, 15. The … Sprouts … of the Cole are very delicate.

11

1749.  B. Wilkes, Eng. Butterfl., 51. The Brassica sylvestris, or Wild Cole.

12

1813.  A. Young, Agric. Essex, I. 209. Three or four small fields of cole.

13

  † b.  Cabbage-cole: a kind of Brassica forming a ‘cabbage’ or head, as the common cabbage.

14

1620.  Venner, Via Recta, vii. 135. Coleworts or Cole are much vsed to be eaten, especially the Cabbage-Cole.

15

  † 2.  Pottage; = KALE or kail. Obs.

16

c. 1460.  Towneley Myst., Mactacio Abel, 18. My master suppys no coyle bot cold. Ibid., Proc. Noe, 30. A measse of wedows coylle.

17

1674.  Ray, N. C. Words, Cole or Keal, Potage.

18

  3.  Comb., as † cole-plant; cole-garth, a cabbage-garden; cole-rape, a name given in some Dictionaries to the Turnip, Brassica Rapa; † cole-stock, a cabbage-stalk; † cole-worm, a caterpillar that feeds on the cabbage; in Sc. kaleworm. See also COLESEED, COLEWORT.

19

1865.  Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., VIII. XVIII. xiv. 66. The Village … a jumble of cottages and *colegarths.

20

1362.  Langl., P. Pl., A. VII. 273. I haue porettes and percyl and moni *Colplontes.

21

1468.  Medulla Gram., in Cath. Angl., 51. Magutus, a *col stook. Ibid., Eruca, a *coolwyrm or a carlok.

22

1483.  Cath. Angl., 51/2. Cale worme, eruca.

23