Covetousness noun
1. Strong desire. [ R.]

When workmen strive to do better than well,
They do confound their skill in covetousness .
Shak.

2. A strong or inordinate desire of obtaining and possessing some supposed good; excessive desire for riches or money; -- in a bad sense.

Covetousness , by a greed of getting more, deprivess itself of the true end of getting.
Sprat.

Syn. -- Avarice; cupidity; eagerness.

Covey noun [ Old French cov...e , F. couv...e , from cover , French couver , to sit or brood on, from Latin cubare to lie down; confer E. incubate . See Cubit , and confer Cove to brood.]
1. A brood or hatch of birds; an old bird with her brood of young; hence, a small flock or number of birds together; -- said of game; as, a covey of partridges. Darwin.

2. A company; a bevy; as, a covey of girls. Addison.

Covey intransitive verb To brood; to incubate. [ Obsolete]

[ Tortoises] covey a whole year before they hatch.
Holland.

Covey noun A pantry. [ Prov. Eng.] Parker.

Covin noun [ Old French covine , covaine , from covenir to agree. See Covenant .]
1. (Law) A collusive agreement between two or more persons to prejudice a third.

2. Deceit; fraud; artifice. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Coving noun (Architecture) (a) A cove or series of coves, as the concaved surface under the overhang of a projecting upper story. (b) The splayed jambs of a flaring fireplace.

Covinous adjective (Law) Deceitful; collusive; fraudulent; dishonest.

Cow (kou) noun [ See Cowl a hood.] A chimney cap; a cowl

Cow noun ; plural Cows (kouz); old plural Kine (kīn). [ Middle English cu , cou , Anglo-Saxon cū ; akin to D. koe , German kuh , Old High German kuo , Icelandic kȳr , Dan. & Swedish ko , Latin bos ox, cow, Greek boy^s , Sanskrit gō . √223. Confer Beef , Bovine , Bucolic , Butter , Nylghau .]

1. The mature female of bovine animals.

2. The female of certain large mammals, as whales, seals, etc.

Cow transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Cowed (koud);; present participle & verbal noun Cowing .] [ Confer Icelandic kuga , Swedish kufva to check, subdue, Dan. kue . Confer Cuff , transitive verb ] To depress with fear; to daunt the spirits or courage of; to overawe.

To vanquish a people already cowed .
Shak.

THe French king was cowed .
J. R. Green.

Cow noun [ Prob. from same root as cow , transitive verb ] (Mining) A wedge, or brake, to check the motion of a machine or car; a chock. Knight.

Cow parsley (kou` p?rs`l?). (Botany) An umbelliferous plant of the genus Chærophyllum ( C. temulum and C. sylvestre ).

Cow parsnip (-n?p). (Botany) A coarse umbelliferous weed of the genus Heracleum ( H. sphondylium in England, and H. lanatum in America).

Cow tree (kou" tr?`). [ Confer SP. palo de vaca .] (Botany) A tree ( Galactodendron utile or Brosimum Galactodendron ) of South America, which yields, on incision, a nourishing fluid, resembling milk.

Cowage (kou"aj) noun (Botany) See Cowhage .

Cowalker noun A phantasmic or "astral" body deemed to be separable from the physical body and capable of acting independently; a doppelgänger.

Cowan (kou" a n) noun [ Confer Old French couillon a coward, a cullion.] One who works as a mason without having served a regular apprenticeship. [ Scot.] Among Freemasons, it is a cant term for pretender , interloper .

Coward adjective [ Old French couard , coard , coart , noun and adj., French couard , from Old French coe , coue , tail, French queue (fr. Latin coda , a form of cauda tail) + -ard ; orig., short-tailed, as an epithet of the hare, or perhaps , turning tail, like a scared dog. Confer Cue , Queue , Caudal .]
1. (Her.) Borne in the escutcheon with his tail doubled between his legs; -- said of a lion.

2. Destitute of courage; timid; cowardly.

Fie, coward woman, and soft-hearted wretch.
Shak.

3. Belonging to a coward; proceeding from, or expressive of, base fear or timidity.

He raised the house with loud and coward cries.
Shak.

Invading fears repel my coward joy.
Proir.

Coward noun A person who lacks courage; a timid or pusillanimous person; a poltroon.

A fool is nauseous, but a coward worse.
Dryden.

Syn. -- Craven; poltroon; dastard.

Coward transitive verb To make timorous; to frighten. [ Obsolete]

That which cowardeth a man's heart.
Foxe.

Cowardice (-ĭs) noun [ French couardise , from couard . See Coward .] Want of courage to face danger; extreme timidity; pusillanimity; base fear of danger or hurt; lack of spirit.

The cowardice of doing wrong.
Milton.

Moderation was despised as cowardice .
Macaulay.

Cowardie (kou"ẽrd*ȳ) noun [ Old French couardie .] Cowardice. [ Obsolete]

Cowardish adjective Cowardly. [ Obsolete] "A base and a cowardish mind." Robynson (More's Utopia).

Cowardize (-...z) transitive verb To render cowardly . [ Obsolete]

God . . . cowardizeth . . . insolent spirits.
Bp. Hall.

Cowardliness noun Cowardice.

Cowardly adjective
1. Wanting courage; basely or weakly timid or fearful; pusillanimous; spiritless.

The cowardly rascals that ran from the battle.
Shak.

2. Proceeding from fear of danger or other consequences; befitting a coward; dastardly; base; as, cowardly malignity. Macaulay.

The cowardly rashness of those who dare not look danger in the face.
Burke.

Syn. -- Timid; fearful; timorous; dastardly; pusillanimous; recreant; craven; faint-hearted; chicken-hearted; white-livered.

Cowardly adverb In the manner of a coward. Spenser.

Cowardship noun Cowardice. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Cowbane (kou"bān`) noun (Botany) A poisonous umbelliferous plant; in England, the Cicuta virosa ; in the United States, the Cicuta maculata and the Archemora rigida . See Water hemlock .

Cowberry (-bĕr`rȳ) noun ; plural Cowberries (- rĭz). (Botany) A species of Vaccinium ( V. Vitis-idæa ), which bears acid red berries which are sometimes used in cookery; -- locally called mountain cranberry .

Cowbird (-bẽrd`) noun (Zoology) The cow blackbird ( Molothrus ater ), an American starling. Like the European cuckoo, it builds no nest, but lays its eggs in the nests of other birds; -- so called because frequently associated with cattle.

Cowblakes (-blāks`) noun plural Dried cow dung used as fuel. [ Prov. Eng.] Simmonds.

Cowboy (-boi`) noun
1. A cattle herder; a drover; specifically, one of an adventurous class of herders and drovers on the plains of the Western and Southwestern United States.

2. One of the marauders who, in the Revolutionary War infested the neutral ground between the American and British lines, and committed depredations on the Americans.

Cowcatcher noun A strong inclined frame, usually of wrought-iron bars, in front of a locomotive engine, for catching or throwing off obstructions on a railway, as cattle; the pilot. [ U.S.]

Cowdie (kou"dȳ) noun (Botany) See Kauri .

Cower (kou"ẽr) intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Cowered (kou"ẽrd); present participle & verbal noun Cowering .] [ Confer Icelandic kera to doze, liequiet, Swedish kura , Danish kure , G. kauern to cower, W. cwrian .] To stoop by bending the knees; to crouch; to squat; hence, to quail; to sink through fear.

Our dame sits cowering o'er a kitchen fire.
Dryden.

Like falcons, cowering on the nest.
Goldsmith.

Cower (kou"ẽr) transitive verb To cherish with care. [ Obsolete]

Cowfish (-fĭsh`) noun (Zoology) (a) The grampus. (b) A California dolphin ( Tursiops Gillii ). (c) A marine plectognath fish ( Ostracoin quadricorne , and allied species), having two projections, like horns, in front; -- called also cuckold , coffer fish , trunkfish .

Cowhage (kou"haj) noun [ Confer Hind. kawanch , koānch .] (Botany) A leguminous climbing plant of the genus Mucuna , having crooked pods covered with sharp hairs, which stick to the fingers, causing intolerable itching. The spiculæ are sometimes used in medicine as a mechanical vermifuge. [ Written also couhage , cowage , and cowitch .]

Cowhearted adjective Cowardly.

The Lady Powis . . . patted him with her fan, and called him a cowhearted fellow.
R. North.

Cowherd noun [ Anglo-Saxon cūhyrde ; cū cow + hyrde a herder.] One whose occupation is to tend cows.

Cowhide noun
1. The hide of a cow.

2. Leather made of the hide of a cow.

3. A coarse whip made of untanned leather.

Cowhide transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Cowhided ; present participle & verbal noun Cowhiding .] To flog with a cowhide.

Cowish (kou"ĭsh) adjective [ From Cow , transitive verb ] Timorous; fearful; cowardly. [ R.] Shak.

Cowish noun (Botany) An umbelliferous plant ( Peucedanum Cous ) with edible tuberous roots, found in Oregon. [ Written also cous .]

Cowitch noun (Botany) See Cowhage .

Cowl (koul) noun [ Anglo-Saxon cuhle , cugle , cugele ; confer dial. G. kogel , gugel , Old French coule , goule ; all from Late Latin cuculla , cucullus , from Latin cucullus cap, hood; perhaps akin to celare to conceal, cella cell. Confer Cucullate .]
1. A monk's hood; -- usually attached to the gown. The name was also applied to the hood and garment together.

What differ more, you cry, than crown and cowl ?
Pope.

2. A cowl-shaped cap, commonly turning with the wind, used to improve the draft of a chimney, ventilating shaft, etc.

3. A wire cap for the smokestack of a locomotive.

Cowl noun [ Confer Old French cuvele , cuvel , dim. of F. cuve tub, vat, from Latin cupa . See Cup .] A vessel carried on a pole between two persons, for conveyance of water. Johnson.

Cowled (kould) adjective Wearing a cowl; hooded; as, a cowled monk. "That cowled churchman." Emerson.

Cowleech noun [ 2d cow + leech a physician.] One who heals diseases of cows; a cow doctor.