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cod

nounnounnounadjectiveverbproper nounattested in dialogue

  • United Kingdom//kɒd//
  • United States//kɑd//
  • Australia//kɔd//

Any of various types of sea fish or the meat from said fish. A sea fish of the family Gadidae which are sold as "cod", as haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), and whiting (usually Merlangius merlangus).

noun

  1. 1

    Any of various types of sea fish or the meat from said fish. A sea fish of the family Gadidae which are sold as "cod", as haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), and whiting (usually Merlangius merlangus).

  2. 2

    Any of various types of sea fish or the meat from said fish. A sea fish of the family Gadidae which are sold as "cod", as haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), and whiting (usually Merlangius merlangus). A sea fish of the genus Gadus, inclusive of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus), and Greenland cod (Gadus ogac or Gadus macrocephalus ogac).

  3. 3

    Any of various types of sea fish or the meat from said fish. A sea fish of the family Gadidae which are sold as "cod", as haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), and whiting (usually Merlangius merlangus). A sea fish of the genus Gadus, inclusive of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus), and Greenland cod (Gadus ogac or Gadus macrocephalus ogac). An Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua).

  4. 4

    informalAny of various types of sea fish or the meat from said fish. Other not closely related fish which are similarly important to regional fisheries, as the hapuku and cultus cod.

  5. 5

    informalAny of various types of sea fish or the meat from said fish. Other not closely related fish which resemble the Atlantic cod, such as the rock cod (Lotella rhacina) and blue cod (Parapercis colias).

Etymology

From Middle English cod, codde, of uncertain origin: * Oldest English form cotfich as a surname in the 13th century; for more see cot (“chamber, cottage”). * A bag or pouch, related to its bloated shape; see Etymology 2 below. * From Latin gadus, from Ancient Greek γάδος (gádos, “cod”) with a possible pre-Greek or Semitic origin; for more see Atargatis, Cetus, and κῆτος (kêtos). Cognate with the genus name, translingual Gadus.

noun

  1. 1

    obsoleteA small bag or pouch.

    There is a Cod, or Bag, that groweth commonly in the Fields;

    The Bunt is to a Sail,[The Bunt of a Sail.] as the Cod to a Net, being the very Pouch, or Bag of the Sail; and therefore all Sails have this Bunt,

    Perspective view of the gear, showing important parts: b, beam; bl. belly; br, brail; bt, bating; c cod end, or bag;

  2. 2

    obsoleteA husk or integument; a pod.

    And he wolde fayne have filled his bely with the coddes, that the swyne ate: and noo man gave hym.

    and I remember the wooing of a peascod instead of her, from whom I tooke two cods, and giuing her them againe, said with weeping teares, weare these for my sake: wee that are true Louers, runne into strange capers; but as all is mortall in nature, so is all nature in loue, mortall in folly.

    its Cods are very crooked and ill ſhaped

  3. 3

    The cocoon of a silkworm.

    In seven days, the cods being finished, they are gathered and laid inheaps till they have time to wind off the silk: But they first set apart the cods designed for propagation, upon a hurdle in a cool airy place.

    The whole moth kind, as well as the silkworm, immediately before their transformation into the chrysalis state, cover their bodies with a cod or clew of silk , though the nature of the silk , and their mode of spinning, are very different.

  4. 4

    archaicThe scrotum.

    that which we call castoreum […] are not the same to be termed testicles or stones; for these cods or follicles are found in both sexes, though somewhat more protuberant in the male.

    Then let the cutter take and hold the tip of his cod in his left hand, and with a sharp knife cut the top thereof an inch long clean away.

    I went on one knee and thrust up and into his cod.

  5. 5

    obsoleteA pillow or cushion.

    Provost Maccalzean, with the silver keys in his hand, and the eldest bailie with the crimson-velvet cod, whereon they were to be delivered to her Majesty, following as fast as any member of a city corporation could be reasonably be expected to do.

    Item , ane long velvet cod or cusheon ;

    Elizabeth Pitt, wife of Thomas Pitt of Haldon, clothier, Elizabeth Clerke of the same, spinster, and Jane Topliffe, wife of James Topliffe of the same, laborer, for stealing there on 1ˢᵗ Nov., 1640, a petticoat (parvacidam) value 4s., two children's coats value 2s., a feather bed cod value 2s., the property of Richard Bradley.

Etymology

From Middle English cod, codde, from Old English cod, codd (“bag, pouch”), from Proto-West Germanic *kuddō, from Proto-Germanic *kuddô, from Proto-Indo-European *gewt- (“pouch, sack”), from *gew- (“to bend, bow, arch, vault, curve”). Cognate with Scots cod, codd, coad, kod (“pillow, cushion”), German Low German Koden, Kon (“belly, paunch”), Middle Dutch codde (“scrotum”), Danish kodde (“testicle”), Swedish kudde (“cushion”), Faroese koddi (“pillow”), Icelandic koddi (“pillow”).

noun

  1. 1

    A joke or an imitation.

    I assume it all could just be a cod.

  2. 2

    A stupid or foolish person.

    He's making a right cod of himself.

Etymology

Origin unknown. Attested in reference to a person (though not always a stupid or foolish person) from the end of the 17th century. The Oxford English Dictionary (1891) notes that a suggested link to codger is unlikely, as cod appears much earlier.

adjective

  1. 1

    Having the character of imitation; jocular.

    cod psychology

    “Illegitimi non carborundum” is a well-known example of cod Latin.

    Dalton categorises Muse's latest composition as “cod-classical bombast”.

    […] the director's vision has devolved from cod Orwell to riffing off bad girl art comic books and generally feeble posing.

  2. 2

    Bad.

    Sandy: Right, right, well I'll just open the wardrobe. Oh, here, look—his wardrobe. Ha! Julian: Ha! Oh what a naff lot! Sandy: It is a bit cod isn't it.

    Will you take a varder at the cartz on the feely-omi in the naf strides: the one with the bona blue ogles polarying the omi-palone with a vogue on and a cod sheitel.

    Hahahahaha! @AnnaJaneCasey Vada the homi ajax, with the naff riah and the cod lally drags. Ooooo she's camp...

verb

  1. 1

    slangTo attempt to deceive or confuse; to kid.

    "How are you, Mary?" "I thought your friend Mac was codding me that you would come."

  2. 2

    slangTo joke; to kid.

    I'm only codding!

proper noun

  1. 1

    Variant of CODAlternative letter-case form of COD (“Call of Duty”).

Etymology

Abbreviation.

Forms

plural
cods
comparative
more cod
superlative
most cod
past tense
codded
past participle
codded
present participle
codding
third person singular
cods
The neighbouring pagesAlphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.

Lexical content from Wiktionary, under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source entry · Data version 2026-08-23

Rank among the words of the OpenSubtitles 2018 corpus — film and television subtitles, so spoken rather than written usage (CC BY-SA 3.0).