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cotter

1
[kot-er]Machinery
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noun
  1. a pin, wedge, key, or the like, fitted or driven into an opening to secure something or hold parts together.
  2. cotter pin.
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verb (used with object)
  1. to secure with a cotter.
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Origin of cotter

1
1300–50; Middle English coter; akin to late Middle English coterell iron bracket; of uncertain origin

cotter

2
[kot-er]
noun
  1. Scot. a person occupying a plot of land and cottage, paid for in services.
  2. cottager(def 2).
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Origin of cotter

2
1175–1225; Middle English cotere < Anglo-French cot(i)er; see cot2, -er2
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for cotter

chunk, cusp, taper, spire, quoin, cleat, lump, keystone, prong, block, shim, cotter, chock

Examples from the Web for cotter

Historical Examples of cotter

  • We soon rounded the point, and Cotter and the trappers and the Post were lost to view.

    The Long Labrador Trail

    Dillon Wallace

  • There was only room beside me for Cotter, so I had him send down the knapsacks first.

  • I want to live in a cot like a cotter—that is, for us to live like two cotters.

  • The young men visited the cotter, and returned with the cart and the news.

    The Art of Disappearing

    John Talbot Smith

  • Whereupon Walton grinned and Cotter, with a sigh, begged him to scowl again!

    Left Guard Gilbert

    Ralph Henry Barbour

British Dictionary definitions for cotter

cotter

1
noun
  1. any part, such as a pin, wedge, key, etc, that is used to secure two other parts so that relative motion between them is prevented
  2. short for cotter pin
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verb
  1. (tr) to secure (two parts) with a cotter
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Word Origin for cotter

C14: shortened from cotterel, of unknown origin

cotter

2
noun
  1. Also called: cottier English history a villein in late Anglo-Saxon and early Norman times occupying a cottage and land in return for labour
  2. Also called: cottar a peasant occupying a cottage and land in the Scottish Highlands under the same tenure as an Irish cottier
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See also cottier (def. 2), cottager (def. 1)

Word Origin for cotter

C14: from Medieval Latin cotārius, from Middle English cote cot ²
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for cotter

n.

1640s, perhaps a shortened form of cotterel, a dialectal word for "cotter pin or bolt, bracket to hang a pot over a fire" (1560s), itself of uncertain origin.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper