Hist. Also 6 cote man. [f. COT1, COTE1 + MAN.] The tenant of a cot or cottage; a cottager, ‘cotset,’ or ‘coterell’; in Sc. a cottar. Also attrib., as in cotman land, agricultural land held by a cotman.
c. 1086. Domesday Bk., Worcestersh. (Spelman), Et 8 bordarii & Cotmanni cum 2 carucis.
1358. Durh. Halmote Rolls (Surtees), I. 24. Quilibet cotmannus habeat partem suam pasturæ.
1559. Richmond. Wills (Surtees), 142. I bequith unto every cotman within the towne of Myddilton ijd a pece.
1584. Vestry Bks. (Surtees), 13. Everie house holder, as well gentle men as also husbandmen and cote men.
1823. Caledonian Mercury, 20 Nov., 3/3 (Jam.). A boy, about eight years of age, belonging to a cotman on the farm, was attacked by a large boar.
1882. C. Elton, Orig. Eng. Hist., 193. At Rotherfield … there are three kinds of land, Assart, Farthing-land and Cotmanland.
