| cob | n. | male swan | ||
| coble | n. | flat-bottomed fishing boat with lugsail used in salmon fishing in Scotland and North England | ||
| cochineal | n. | scarlet or crimson dye primarily used in cookery, made of a dried powder derived from the insect of the same name | ||
| cock a snook | v. | to show contempt; to make rude hand gesture with thumb on the nose with fingers extended | idiom | |
| cock-a-hoop | adj. | vaingloriously elated | ||
| cockalorum | n. | small-minded boaster, self-important person of little merit; boasting speech | ||
| cockchafer | n. | doodlebug, large brown European beetle | ||
| cocker | n. | 1 | patron or promoter of cockfights; spaniel breed trained to start woodcocks | |
| cocker | v. | 2 | to pamper | |
| cockshut | n. | twilight, evening | obsolete | |
| cocksparrer | n. | cocky youngster | ||
| cocotte | n. | prostitute | ||
| coffer | n. | sunken panel in a ceiling or soffit | ||
| cofferdam | n. | watertight enclosure pumped dry to create space where underwater work may proceed in normal conditions | ||
| coffle | n. | train of beasts, slaves, etc., chained together | ||
| cog | v. | to load dice so as to cheat; to cheat; to plagiarize | ||
| coign of vantage | n. | good position for observation or action | ||
| coistrel | n. | knave, scoundrel | ||
| collodion | n. | solution of gun-cotton in ether, used in photography and surgery | ||
| collop | n. | fold of fat flesh | ||
| colloquize | v. | to engage in conversation or dialogue | ||
| collywobbles | n. | rumbling in the intestines | ||
| colorable | adj. | seemingly true | ||
| colporteur | n. | hawker or seller of books | ||
| columbarium | n. | vault or structure built with many niches for placement of funerary remains, such as urns containing cremated ashes; such a niche in such a building | ||
| columbary | n. | dovecote | ||
| colure | n. | one of the two meridians of the celestial sphere, one passing through the solstices and the other through the equinoxes, both intersecting above the Earth’s poles | ||
| combe | n. | deep hollow or short valley | ||
| comber | n. | long, curving wave | ||
| come the raw prawn | v. | to try to trick or pretend | informal | |
| comital | adj. | of or related to a count or earl | ||
| commination | n. | denunciation portending divine vengeance | ||
| commissure | n. | joint between bones; tissue of nerve fiber joining right and left sides of spinal cord or brain; point where lips or eyelids join | ||
| commonplace book | n. | personal notebook into which quotes and memoranda were written | ||
| compeer | n. | person of equal rank or ability, peer | ||
| compend | n. | summary, epitome, compendium | ||
| compere | n. | master of ceremonies | British | |
| competency | n. | sufficient income for daily expenses of living | ||
| complaisant | adj. | willing to please, obliging | ||
| compossible | adj. | not inconsistent with some other assertion | ||
| compunction | n. | feeling of conscience | ||
| compurgator | n. | witness to an accused person’s innocence or truthfulness | ||
| Comstockery | n. | “censorship because of perceived obscenity or immorality” (George Bernard Shaw) | ||
| con | v. | to know, to understand | obsolete | |
| conation | n. | mental facility directed towards striving, will, desire, volition | ||
| concinnity | n. | well-adapted and harmonious arrangement of parts (in musical work, in logical argument, etc.) | ||
| concrescence | n. | growing together of originally separate parts | ||
| concupiscence | n. | overwhelming desire, esp. sexual | ||
| condole | v. | to express sympathy | ||
| condoler | n. | one who expresses sympathy or grief with or for another |
