costard
Americannoun
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a large English variety of apple.
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Archaic. the head.
noun
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an English variety of apple tree
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the large ribbed apple of this tree
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archaic a slang word for head
Etymology
Origin of costard
1250–1300; Middle English, perhaps < Anglo-French, equivalent to coste rib ( see coast) + -ard -ard, alluding to the ridges or ribs of the variety
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"Brast your costard, have I? Well, it serves you right, for all your mischief. What are you up to, scuttling about behind the stage like a great rat?"
From "The Shakespeare Stealer" by Gary L. Blackwood
But tell me; how was there a costard broken in a shin?
From Love's Labour's Lost by Shakespeare, William
His look went from brooder's beard to carper's skull, to remind, to chide them not unkindly, then to the baldpink lollard costard, guiltless though maligned.
From Ulysses by Joyce, James
And they point to the costard he bears in his mouth, And vow the huge pig, So luscious a fig, Would not gather to grunch in the daintiful South!
From The Baron's Yule Feast: A Christmas Rhyme by Cooper, Thomas
Whereby I have now once again given the costard monger his pees and his cues.
From Anna St. Ives by Holcroft, Thomas
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
