[Fr.; = cut-throat.]
† 1. A cut-throat. Obs.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 7422. A rasour sharpe and wel bitinge That was forged in a forge Which that men clepen Coupe-Gorge. [Hence in Minsheu 1617, Phillips, Coles.]
2. ‘Used in a military sense to signify any spot or position which affords an enemy so many advantages that the troops who occupy it must either surrender or be cut to pieces’ (Stocqueler).
3. fig.
1612. Sir R. Winwood, Lett. to Jas. I., in Motley, Barneveld, II. 456. On thys, he long insysted, as th’ only couppe-gorge, of all resultats, whatsoever, between france and spayne.
