cog
1a gear tooth, formerly especially one of hardwood or metal, fitted into a slot in a gearwheel of less durable material.
a cogwheel.
a person who plays a minor part in a large organization, activity, etc.: He's just a small cog in the financial department.
(of an electric motor) to move jerkily.
to roll or hammer (an ingot) into a bloom or slab.
Idioms about cog
slip a cog, to make a blunder; err: One of the clerks must have slipped a cog.
Origin of cog
1Other definitions for cog (2 of 4)
to manipulate or load (dice) unfairly.
to cheat, especially at dice.
Origin of cog
2Other definitions for cog (3 of 4)
Carpentry. (in a cogged joint) the tongue in one timber, fitting into a corresponding slot in another.
Mining. a cluster of timber supports for a roof.: Compare chock (def. 4).
Carpentry. to join with a cog.
Origin of cog
3Other definitions for cog. (4 of 4)
cognate.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use cog in a sentence
Sprewell also joins one of cogs in Pat Riley’s brutish ‘90s teams in racking up massive amounts of debt.
Guns, Blow Jobs, and Choke Holds: a History of the New York Knicks | Robert Silverman | February 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAs cogs in the Disney machine, Joe and his brothers went from playing local gigs to selling out arenas in the blink of an eye.
How Likable Is Alec Baldwin After His ‘New York Magazine’ Confessional? | Amy Zimmerman | February 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTMany of the secular Jewish national organizations are simply cogs in the party machine.
The big graft in this neck-a woods is political, and the Red Tower gang is only set-a cogs in the bull-wheel.
The Wreckers | Francis LyndeThey begin their lives as boys dreaming of the track, or of cogs and wheels, or of great waters.
The Voice of the Machines | Gerald Stanley Lee
Hundreds and hundreds of wheels, pins, cogs and springs filled the air like a cloud and then rattled like hail upon the floor.
Little Wizard Stories of Oz | L. Frank BaumThe cogs emitted a grating, crunching sound, as of quartz in a stone-crusher, and then subsided.
Bizarre | Lawton MackallThe speaker was the man whom Barton had rescued from the cogs and wheels and springs of an infuriated engine.
The Mark Of Cain | Andrew Lang
British Dictionary definitions for cog (1 of 3)
/ (kɒɡ) /
any of the teeth or projections on the rim of a gearwheel or sprocket
a gearwheel, esp a small one
a person or thing playing a small part in a large organization or process
(tr) metallurgy to roll (cast-steel ingots) to convert them into blooms
Origin of cog
1British Dictionary definitions for cog (2 of 3)
/ (kɒɡ) /
slang to cheat (in a game, esp dice), as by loading a dice
Origin of cog
2British Dictionary definitions for cog (3 of 3)
/ (kɒɡ) /
a tenon that projects from the end of a timber beam for fitting into a mortise
(tr) to join (pieces of wood) with cogs
Origin of cog
3Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with cog
In addition to the idiom beginning with cog
- cog in the wheel
also see:
- slip a cog
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Browse