<B>coccoid, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of or like a coccus. <DD><I>noun </I> a coccoid microorganism. </DL>
<A NAME="coccolith">
<B>coccolith, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of the skeletal coverings made of calcite that protect a coccolithophore. In a fossilized state coccoliths form chalk and limestone deposits, such as the White Cliffs of Dover. <BR> <I>Ex. Bodies similar to these "coccoliths" were aggregated together into spheroids ... termed "coccospheres" (Thomas Huxley).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="coccolithophore">
<B>coccolithophore, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of a group of single-celled, golden-brown microorganisms having two whiplike appendages and hard shells composed mostly of calcite. Coccolithophores, along with diatoms, are phytoplankton important to the food chain of the open ocean. </DL>
<A NAME="coccosphere">
<B>coccosphere, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a spheroidal mass of coccoliths; skeleton of a coccolithophore. <DD><B> 2. </B>a living coccolithophore. </DL>
<A NAME="cocculusindicus">
<B>cocculus indicus,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the dried, berrylike fruit of a climbing shrub of the East Indies, containing the bitter, poisonous principle called picrotoxin. </DL>
<A NAME="coccus">
<B>coccus, </B>noun, pl. <B>-ci.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a bacterial cell shaped like a sphere. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Botany.) a part of a compound pistil; carpel. <DD><B> 3. </B><B>=cochineal.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="coccygeal">
<B>coccygeal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with the coccyx; caudal. <BR> <I>Ex. a coccygeal vertebra, muscle, artery, or nerve.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="coccyx">
<B>coccyx, </B>noun, pl. <B>coccyges.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a small, triangular bone forming the lower end of the spinal column in man. <BR> <I>Ex. We have a small coccyx as a remnant of our tail vertebrae instead of a urostyle (A. M. Winchester).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a similar part in certain animals and birds. </DL>
<A NAME="coch">
<B>coch.</B> or <B>cochl.,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (in a medical prescription) spoonful (Latin, <I>cochleare</I>). </DL>
<A NAME="cochairman">
<B>cochairman, </B>noun, pl. <B>-men.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a joint or fellow chairman. </DL>
<A NAME="cocher">
<B>cocher, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) a coachman; driver. </DL>
<A NAME="cochin">
<B>Cochin</B> or <B>cochin, </B>noun, or <B>Cochin China,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any chicken of a large breed of domestic fowl originating in Asia that have many feathers on their legs and loose, fluffy plumage. There are buff, white, black, and partridge Cochins. </DL>
<A NAME="cochineal">
<B>cochineal, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a bright-red dye made from the dried bodies of the females of a scale insect that lives on cactus plants of tropical America. It is used for making carmine. </DL>
<A NAME="cochinealinsect">
<B>cochineal insect,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the scale insect from whose dried body cochineal is made. <BR> <I>Ex. The pigment extracted from female cochineal insects was already an article of commerce in Mexico when the Spanish arrived there (B. Nickerson).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="cochise">
<B>Cochise, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or having to do with an American Indian culture that existed in Arizona and New Mexico in the 8000's B.C.. <BR> <I>Ex. There was a well-established hunting tradition in a region previously thought to have been dominated by the Cochise ... plant-gatherers (New Scientist).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="cochlea">
<B>cochlea, </B>noun, pl. <B>-leae.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a spiral-shaped cavity of the inner ear, containing the nerve endings that transmit sound impulses along the auditory nerve. <BR> <I>Ex. The cochlea is the structure within which pressures initiated by sound waves are transformed into nerve impulses that ultimately are translated in the brain as sound sensations (Harbaugh and Goodrich).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="cochlear">
<B>cochlear, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of the cochlea. </DL>
<A NAME="cochleate">
<B>cochleate, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> shaped like a snail shell; spiral. </DL>
<A NAME="cochleated">
<B>cochleated, </B>adjective. =cochleate.</DL>
<A NAME="cock">
<B>cock</B> (1), noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a male chicken; rooster. <BR> <I>Ex. roused by the crowing cock at dawn of day (Wordsworth).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>the male of other birds and sometimes other animals. <BR> <I>Ex. a turkey cock, a lobster cock.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a faucet used to turn the flow of a liquid or gas on or off; tap. <BR> <I>Ex. Water squirted from the hose as he turned the cock at the side of the house.</I> <DD><B> 4a. </B>the hammer of a gun. <BR> <I>Ex. With his firelock nearly at the position of the charge with his thumb upon the cock (Duke of Wellington).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>the position of the hammer or firing pin of a gun when it is pulled back ready to fire. <DD><B> 5. </B><B>=weathercock.</B> <DD><B> 6. </B>(Figurative.) a leader; head; main person. <BR> <I>Ex. He was the cock of the school out of doors (Thackeray).</I> <DD><B> 7. </B>the mark aimed at in the game of curling. <DD><B> 8. </B>(Archaic.) <DD><B> a. </B>the crowing of a cock in the early morning. <DD><B> b. </B>the time of its crowing. <DD><B> 9. </B>(Obsolete.) a cockboat. <DD><I>v.t. </I> to pull back the hammer or firing pin of (a gun), in order to make it ready to fire. <BR> <I>Ex. There was a click as the hunter cocked his rifle.</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to raise or draw back the cock or hammer of a gun. </DL>
<A NAME="cock">
<B>cock</B> (2), verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to turn or stick up, especially as if to defy or inquire. <BR> <I>Ex. The little bird cocked his eye at me. The dog cocked his ears when he heard his master's footsteps.</I> <DD><B> 2a. </B>to set (one's hat) at a jaunty angle on the head. <BR> <I>Ex. The sailor cocked his hat on the back of his head.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>to turn up the brim of (one's hat). <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to stand or stick up conspicuously. <BR> <I>Ex. ... the little saucy-looking heads cocking up between the old one's ears (David Livingstone).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to swagger; strut; brag. <BR> <I>Ex. I'll strut, and cock, and talk as big as wind and froth can make me (Thomas Southerne).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>an upward turn or bend of the nose, eye, or ear. <BR> <I>Ex. with a knowing cock of his eye to his next neighbor (Scott).</I> <DD><B> 2a. </B>the turn of a brim of a hat. <BR> <I>Ex. a fierce cock to his hat and a shabby genteel air (Thackeray).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>a part of the brim of a hat that can be turned up. <BR> <I>Ex. The wind being high, he let down the cocks of his hat (James Boswell).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="cock">
<B>cock</B> (3), noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a small, cone-shaped pile of hay, dung, or turf in a field. <DD><I>v.t. </I> to pile in cocks. </DL>
<A NAME="cockade">
<B>cockade, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a knot of ribbon or a rosette worn on the hat as a badge. <BR> <I>Ex. The only thing that distinguished it from the hats of lesser officers was the color of the cockade on its brim (New Yorker).</I> <DL COMPACT><DD> Also, (French,) <B>cocarde.</B> </DL>
</DL>
<A NAME="cockaded">
<B>cockaded, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> wearing a cockade. </DL>
<A NAME="cockadoodle">
<B>cock-a-doodle, </B>intransitive verb, <B>-dled,</B> <B>-dling</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to crow; cock-a-doodle-doo. <BR> <I>Ex. One of those egotistical ... types who cock-a-doodle a great deal (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="cockadoodledoo">
<B>cock-a-doodle-doo, </B>interjection, noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>interj., noun </I> an imitation of the loud cry of a rooster. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to make this sound; crow. </DL>
<A NAME="cockahoop">
<B>cock-a-hoop, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>boastfully and loudly triumphant; elated; exultant. <BR> <I>Ex. He is a cock-a-hoop about his success.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>askew; awry. <BR> <I>Ex. The film in the projector is all cock-a-hoop.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="cockaigne">
<B>Cockaigne, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> an imaginary land of luxury and idleness. Also, <B>Cockayne.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="cockaleekie">
<B>cockaleekie, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Scottish.) a soup made of cock boiled with leeks. Also, <B>cockie-leekie,</B> <B>cocky-leeky.</B> </DL>
<B>cockamamie</B> or <B>cockamamy, </B>adjective, noun, pl. <B>-mies.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Slang.) <DD><I>adj. </I> foolish, absurd, or nonsensical. <BR> <I>Ex. If there are some confusing or irritating or cockamamy rules of the house ... these should be explained in advance (Atlantic).</I> <DD><I>noun </I> something foolish, absurd, or nonsensical. <BR> <I>Ex. Arlen characterized the drama as "... the most asinine and inept piece of cockamamie that I've seen all year" (Harper's).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="cockandbullstory">
<B>cock-and-bull story,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an absurd, incredible story (from an old fable with two incredible characters, a cock and a bull). </DL>
<A NAME="cockateel">
<B>cockateel</B> or <B>cockatiel, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a small Australian parrot with a long tail, common as a cage bird. </DL>
<A NAME="cockatoo">
<B>cockatoo, </B>noun, pl. <B>-toos.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a large, often brightly colored parrot, especially of Australia and the East Indies. It has a crest of feathers on the head which can be raised or lowered. Cockatoos are noisy but rarely learn to talk. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Australian Slang.) <DD><B> a. </B>a small farmer; cocky. <DD><B> b. </B>a person posted as a lookout, especially by criminals. </DL>
<A NAME="cockatrice">
<B>cockatrice, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a serpent in old stories whose look was supposed to cause death. The cockatrice was believed to be hatched by a serpent from a cock's egg. It was usually represented as part cock and part serpent. <DD><B> 2. </B>a venomous serpent not now identifiable (in the Bible, Isaiah 14:29). </DL>
<A NAME="cockayne">
<B>Cockayne, </B>noun. =Cockaigne.</DL>
<A NAME="cockbead">
<B>cock bead,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a bead which is not flush with the general surface, but raised above it in joining wood. </DL>
<A NAME="cockboat">
<B>cockboat, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a small rowboat, especially one used as the tender of a ship or larger boat. <BR> <I>Ex. It would be more candid ... to avow our principles explicitly to Russia and France than to come in as a cockboat in the wake of the British man-of-war (John Quincy Adams).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=cockleshell </B>(boat). </DL>
<A NAME="cockchafer">
<B>cockchafer, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a large European beetle that destroys plants. </DL>
