| 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 | ||
| crapulous | adj. | given to intemperate eating or drinking | ||
| craquelure | n. | tiny network of cracks on surface of old varnish or paint | ||
| crassities | n. | materiality, density | obsolete | |
| craton | n. | area of the earth’s crust and mantle which has remained unchanged by tectonic activity | ||
| crawfish | v. | to back out from a commitment or position | idiom | |
| credenza | n. | dining room sideboard or table, used for buffets or for setting dishes to be served (also credence) | ||
| crenellate | v. | to furnish with battlements, embrasures, or loopholes | ||
| crenulate | adj. | minutely notched or scalloped | biology | |
| crepitus | n. | grating noise produced by friction between bone and cartilage or pieces of broken bone; rale | ||
| crepuscular | adj. | like twilight; dim | ||
| cresset | n. | metal vessel containing oil, grease, rope in pitch, or other flammable material, used for lighting and usually mounted upon a pole | ||
| cretonne | n. | heavy printed cloth often used in upholstery | ||
| criminator | n. | accuser, calumniator | archaic | |
| criminogenic | adj. | causing crime, of the bases of criminal behavior | ||
| crise de foi | n. | internal religious tumult, “crisis of faith” | ||
| crise de foie | n. | indigestion, “upset liver” | ||
| criterion | n. | standard of judgment | ||
| crocket | n. | hook-shaped medieval ornament suggesting a leaf | ||
| crocodile | n. | line of walking persons, esp. when composed of children | ||
| cromlech | n. | dolmen, megalithic tomb | ||
| croodle | v. | to crouch down; to draw oneself together, as for warmth; to cling closely to a person | ||
| crore | n. | ten million (esp. of rupees), one hundred lakh | ||
| crossruff | v. | to take tricks alternately in bridge, each winning partner leading a suit which the other trumps and so forth | ||
| crowbait | n. | worn-out old horse | idiom | |
| crowbar | v. | to prevent overvoltage by creating a short circuit away from electrical components which might otherwise be damaged | ||
| cruentate | adj. | blood-smeared | obsolete | |
| cruet | n. | small container of condiment or seasoning for use at table; small container for Eucharistic wine | ||
| cruive | n. | weir for catching salmon | Scots | |
| cruor | n. | clotted blood; red colored matter within blood | ||
| crupper | n. | strap looped around horse’s tail attached to saddle to prevent the saddle or harness from moving forward | ||
| cruse | n. | pot or jar of earthenware | ||
| crwth | n. | bowed instrument on rectangular frame employed by ancient Celts | ||
| crypt | n. | depression or sinkage surrounding a villus in the intestinal epithelium | ||
| cryptesthesia | n. | perception by hidden or paranormal means, such as clairaudience or clairvoyance |
