cotter
1 Americannoun
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a pin, wedge, key, or the like, fitted or driven into an opening to secure something or hold parts together.
verb (used with object)
noun
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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
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short for cotter pin
verb
noun
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Also called: cottier. English history a villein in late Anglo-Saxon and early Norman times occupying a cottage and land in return for labour
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Also called: cottar. a peasant occupying a cottage and land in the Scottish Highlands under the same tenure as an Irish cottier
Etymology
Origin of cotter1
1300–50; Middle English coter; akin to late Middle English coterell iron bracket; of uncertain origin
Origin of cotter2
1175–1225; Middle English cotere < Anglo-French cot ( i ) er; see cot 2, -er 2
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.
Theirs is a world in which every boy matures to master small motors, to understand the importance of the cotter pin.
From Time Magazine Archive
As the U.S. cotter pin in the United Nations, Lodge was given Cabinet status and a large voice in U.S. policy�and grew in stature to measure up to both.
From Time Magazine Archive
At Tsurumi, outside Yokohama, another cotter pin evidently sheared off the wheel housing of a southbound freight car.
From Time Magazine Archive
At the Mikawa mine on southern Kyushu island, a cotter pin apparently fell out of a coupling on a string of coal cars halted on a slight incline.
From Time Magazine Archive
The feed motions for cotter drilling may be instantly thrown out of gear when not required, remaining at rest and leaving the machine a simple traverse drill with automatic feeds.
From Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II by Rose, Joshua
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.
