cog Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun a subordinate who performs an important but routine function
- he was a small cog in a large machine
noun tooth on the rim of gear wheel
sprocket.
verb roll steel ingots
verb join pieces of wood with cogs

Cf. W. coegio to make void, to beceive, from coeg empty, vain, foolish. Cf. Coax, v. t.

imperfect & past participle Cogged ; present participle & verbal noun Cogging

To seduce, or draw away, by adulation, artifice, or falsehood; to wheedle; to cozen; to cheat. R.
I'll . . . cog their hearts from them. Shak.
To obtrude or thrust in, by falsehood or deception; as, to cog in a word; to palm off. R.
Fustian tragedies . . . have, by concerted applauses, been cogged upon the town for masterpieces. J. Dennis

To cog a die, to load so as to direct its fall; to cheat in playing dice. Swift.

To deceive; to cheat; to play false; to lie; to wheedle; to cajole.
For guineas in other men's breeches, Your gamesters will palm and will cog. Swift.

Cf. Sw. kugge a cog, or W. cocos the cogs of a wheel.

(Mech.) A tooth, cam, or catch for imparting or receiving motion, as on a gear wheel, or a lifter or wiper on a shaft; originally, a separate piece of wood set in a mortise in the face of a wheel.
(Carp.) (a) A kind of tenon on the end of a joist, received into a notch in a bearing timber, and resting flush with its upper surface. (b) A tenon in a scarf joint; a coak. Knight.
(Mining.) One of the rough pillars of stone or coal left to support the roof of a mine.