costard

American  

[kos-terd, kaw-sterd] / ˈkɒs tərd, ˈkɔ stərd /

noun

1. a large English variety of apple.

2. Archaic. the head.

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costard British  

/ ˈkʌstəd /

noun

1. an English variety of apple tree

2. the large ribbed apple of this tree

3. archaic a slang word for head

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Etymology

Origin of costard

1250–1300; Middle English, perhaps < Anglo-French, equivalent to coste rib ( coast ) + -ard -ard, alluding to the ridges or ribs of the variety

Example Sentences

"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

Hell-gate's somewhat too hot, somewhat too hot; the porter's a knave: I'd be loth to be damned for my conscience; I'll knock any body's costard, so I knock not there, my lord; hell-gates!

From A Select Collection of Old English Plays Volume 14 of 15 by Dodsley, Robert

But tell me; how was there a costard broken in a shin?

From Love's Labour's Lost by Shakespeare, William

As an avowed atheist he received no quarter, and he might fairly say with Wilfred Osbaldistone, 'It's hard I should get raps over the costard, and only pay you back in make-believes.'

From In the Name of the Bodleian and Other Essays by Birrell, Augustine

“Now, by the mass, you costard, you gave me a twist of the inwards with your lame joke.”

From Myths & Legends of our New Possessions & Protectorate by Skinner, Charles M. (Charles Montgomery)