cog
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: business
carpentry
construction
manufacturing
mining
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *gēw-
Proto-Indo-European *gugāder.
Proto-Germanic *kuggōder.
Old Norse *koggrbor.
Middle English cogge
English cog
Inherited from Middle English cogge, from Old Norse *kogge, *koggr (see Old Swedish kogge, kogger), from Proto-Germanic *kuggō (“cog, swelling”), from Proto-Indo-European *gugā (“hump, ball”), from *gēw- (“to bend, arch”). Compare Lithuanian gugà (“pommel, hump, hill”).
Cognates includes: Swedish kugg, kugge (“cog tooth”), Norwegian kugg (“cog”). The meaning of “cog” in carpentry derives from association with a tooth on a cogwheel. Compare Old Swedish koggavidher (“cog wood”), “wood reserved for a millwheel”.
See also dialectal English cag (“stump”), keg; Old Norse kaggi (“keg”) + -gi (diminutive suffix), from the Germanic base *kagô (“bush, branch, stalk, stump”); also found in Bavarian Kag (“the stalk or stem of a cabbage”); dialectal Swedish kage (“treestump; piece of wood; post”), kagg or kagge (“scythe handle”); Norwegian Nynorsk kage or kagge (“low lying bush, small tree”), dialectal kagg (“scythe handle”); Old English ċeacga (“broom, furze, gorse”), whence English chag (“branch”), also Old English cyċġel, English cudgel (“knotty club”). The ultimate origin could be related to English cog (“cargo boat”) (Dutch kogge), probably named for its “round swollen” appearance.
Affixes: -gi
Inflected forms:
form: cogs
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: cogs
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: cogging
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: cogged
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: cogged
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A tooth on a gear.
pos: noun
gloss: A gear; especially, a cogwheel.
pos: noun
examples: She said: " We're not wasting time. While the cogs of Parliament continue to whir, we will continue to work on the rolling stock and infrastructure strategy, the national transport integrated strategy, and our accessibility roadmap.
gloss: An unimportant individual in a greater system.
pos: noun
examples: just a cog in the machine
All the old problems, the stale ones, both personal and general, had been solved by one mighty slash. Heaven alone knew as yet what others might arise - and it looked as though there would be plenty of them - but they would be new. I was emerging as my own master, and no longer a cog.
1976, Norman Denny (English translation), Victor Hugo (original French), Les Misérables
‘There are twenty-five of us, but they don’t reckon I’m worth anything. I’m just a cog in the machine.’
1988, David Mamet, Speed-the-Plow
Your boss tells you “take initiative,” you best guess right—and you do, then you get no credit. Day-in, … smiling, smiling, just a cog.
gloss: A projection or tenon at the end of a beam designed to fit into a matching opening of another piece of wood to form a joint.
pos: noun
gloss: One of the rough pillars of stone or coal left to support the roof of a mine.
pos: noun
gloss: To furnish with a cog or cogs.
pos: verb
gloss: Of an electric motor or generator, to snap preferentially to certain positions when not energized.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
Derived words: cog fog
Cogger
coggery
coggle
cog joint
cogless
coglike
cog mill
cograil
cog railway
cogset
cogsucker
cogwheel
cogwood
cudgel
hunting cog
miss a cog
oxtercog
Translations: