| contravene | v. | to violate an order, law, or treaty; to conflict with an obligation or commitment | ||
| contumacy | n. | perverse and obstinate resistance to authority | ||
| contumelious | adj. | disdainfully insolent, contemptuous, scornfully rude | ||
| contumely | n. | scornful rudeness or abuse | ||
| conurbation | n. | metropolis, large urban area formed from expansion of several cities into each other | ||
| convolute | v. | to make difficult to follow, to complexify; to wind upon itself | ||
| cook-general | n. | servant performing both general housekeeping and cooking | British | |
| cop off | v. | to have sex with (someone) | slang | |
| coping | n. | finishing course of brickwork or masonry in a wall | ||
| coping stone | n. | stone forming the uppermost course of a wall; utmost or completing element | architecture | |
| coppice | n. | copse, thicket or underwood grown for intermittent cutting | ||
| coprolite | n. | petrified animal excrement | ||
| corbel | n. | bracket of stone or brick jutting from wall to support weight above (architecture) | ||
| cordwainer | n. | shoemaker, leatherworker | archaic | |
| cordyceps | n. | parasitic fungus attacking arthropods | biology | |
| Corfiot | adj. | of or related to Corfu or a native of Corfu | ||
| corporal’s guard | n. | small detachment of soldiers; any small group | ||
| corrigible | adj. | capable of being corrected | ||
| corrody | n. | lifetime pension of care given by religious house to maintain grantee | ||
| coruscate | v. | to scintillate, to sparkle | ||
| corvine | adj. | of or related to a crow or crows | ||
| corybantic | adj. | crazed, wild, frenzied, orgiastic | ||
| coscinomancy | n. | divination by use of scissors and sieve | ||
| cosher | v. | to feast; to pamper | ||
| cosset | v. | to fondle, pamper | ||
| cosset | n. | pet lamb | ||
| costa | n. | rib | biology | |
| costard | n. | large apple | ||
| costermonger | n. | person who sells fruit and vegetables from a street cart; (fig.) hawker of any wares | ||
| costive | adj. | constipated; slow or unenthusiastic in action | ||
| cothon | n. | protected artificial harbor used in ancient Phoenicia | ||
| cothurnus | n. | tragedy, tragic style, grave style of acting; buskin, thick-soled boot worn by ancient actors | ||
| cotta | n. | surplice, often with box pleats | ||
| cottar | n. | peasant living in a cottage in exchange for service | Scots | |
| cough drop | n. | obnoxious person; fellow, ‘character’ or ‘card’ | slang | |
| coulee | n. | deep gulch; small sometimes intermittent stream | ||
| coulter | n. | blade fixed before the plowshare, cutting soil vertically | ||
| counterscarp | n. | outer wall or slope of a protective ditch of a fortification | ||
| coup de grâce | n. | death blow | ||
| covert | n. | hiding place, shelter; bushes or other wooded places serving to shelter game | ||
| coverture | n. | legal doctrine under which a married woman’s rights and obligations (to property, to enter contracts, etc.) were subsumed under those of her husband | ||
| coxcomb | n. | conceited fool | ||
| cozenage | n. | scam, fraud; practice of cheating | ||
| crab | v. | [falconry] (of a hunting hawk) to claw or to fight with another hawk, rather than the intended prey | ||
| cracknel | n. | crisp savory biscuit; fried pork fat bits | ||
| craic | n. | fun, good time, esp. in pleasant company and conversation | ||
| crambo | n. | guessing game involving rhyming words; word that rhymes with another | ||
| crannequin | n. | hand-crank used for cocking a crossbow | ||
| crannog | n. | artificial island used as fortification or dwelling in ancient Ireland and Scotland | ||
| crapulent | adj. | sick from gross excess in eating or drinking |
