Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also cog a dice, cog a die, cog the dice) to use any form of illicit sleight of hand, spec. to make a surreptitious change of a crooked dice for a legitimate one (or vice versa) during a game; thus cogging n. and adj.

1545		R. Ascham Toxophilus (1761) I 85: What shift will they make to set the one of them with [...] cogginge, and foystinge.
1552		G. Walker Detection of Vyle and Detestable Use of Dice Play 28: There be divers kind of cogging, but of all other the Spanish cogg bears the bell, and seldom raiseth any smoke.
1567–70		G. Turbervile ‘To his Friend P.’ in Chalmers Eng. Poets (1810) II 602/2: To shake the bones and cog the craftie Dice.
1577		Misogonus in Farmer (1906) IV ii: Were able to live, man! with cogging at cards and at dice.
1586		T. Newton Tryall of Mans Owne Self 127: Whether he haue wonne other folks monie by cogging, or false play.
1592		A. Day Eng. Secretorie II 56: One of you, seeke all London for a cogging, brabling, boasting, rayling, shamelesse, and lying knaue.
1600–2		‘The New Courtier’ in Ebsworth Roxburghe Ballads (1891) VII:2 266: I cogg a dye, swagger and lye.
1616		Jonson Devil is an Ass I i: I will teach thee [to] cheat, child, to cog, lie and swagger.
1622		J. Mabbe (trans.) Life of Guzman Pt I Bk II 112: I could cogge a Dye handsomely.
1630		J. Taylor ‘Travels of Twelve-pence’ Works (1869) I 70: He got his living cogging with two stones.
1653		Mercurius Democritus 28 Sept.-5 Oct. 597: Gamesters, swear on; though you fling Inn and Inn / [...] / Offer your bones to nimble Mercury / Lest Pluto catch you at youir cogging dye.
1665		‘R.M.’ Scarronides 18: Some say in th’ twinking of an eye, This Youngster he could cog a dye.
1671		‘L.B.’ New Academy of Complements 256: I cog a Dye, swagger and lie.
1685		New plot newly discovered 4: He shall for a great while win all, but at last, with their cogging Dice, they win all our young Gallant’s money.
1693		Dryden Persius III 36: But then my Study was to Cog the Dice; And dext’rously to throw the lucky Sice: To shun Ames-Ace, that swept my stakes away; And watch the Box, for fear they shou’d convey False Bones, and put upon me in the Play.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Cog a die, to conceal or secure a die.
1704		S. Centlivre Gamester Act I: To learn to cog a Die nicely, requires as good a Genius as the Study of the Mathematics.
1714		T. Lucas Lives of the Gamesters (1930) 165: Shevalier has an excellent knack at cogging a die.
1719		M. O’Connor ‘Eclogue’ in A. Carpenter Verse in Eng. in 18C Ireland (1998) 87: There I cou’d nicely serve, and teach young men / The art to cogg, and win their coin again.
1724		J. Thurmond Harlequin Sheppard 16: Ye Fellows of Newgate whose Fingers are nice, / In diving in Pockets, or cogging of Dice.
1734		C. Johnson Hist. of Highwaymen &c. 68: He could cog a die, or flip a Card with any one.
1756		W. Toldervy Hist. of the Two Orphans IV 66: I observed Trillmore to cog a die, with which I reproached him.
1766		H. Brooke Fool of Quality II 187: I never took Bribe or Present of any Kind, or from any Hand; lest Favour or Inclination should insensibly tempt me to cogg, or give a partial Turn to the final Cast.
1777		Hants. Chron. 27 Oct. 4/1: Supose I pack the cards, and cog the dice.
1780		M.P. Andrews Fire and Water! (1790) 26: Since you and me togeder / De die of fortune cog.
1794		‘Peter Pindar’ ‘Exposulatory Odes’ Works (1794) II 332: The man I hate [...] Who, if he gam’d, the dice would meanly cog.
1803		Sporting Mag. Dec. XXIII 164/1: Renardo plays, but then he cogs the dice / And ruins in honest Playfair in a trice.
1808		J.P. Hurstone Piccadilly Ambulator I 33: Cogging the die [...] is practised by plaing a false die between the joints of the little finger, and dexterously concealing it from the view of the other players [...] [he only lets the concealed die fall from his finger, having previously fixed it, so that it will exhibit such a number as he has wagered upon.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1825		C.M. Westmacott Eng. Spy I 272: On gain he’s now intent, / To deal a flush or cog a die.
1827		Hamel, Obeah Man II 35: I will not parley with so base a knave – a cogging, pettyfogging knave.
1832		Satirist (London) 29 July 246/4: In respect to the Greek clubs little is stirring, the cholera humbug is a great hindrance to the cogging congregations.
1837		‘Juggling Johnny’ in Blackwood’s Edin. Mag. 786: Oh! my cogging, cozening Johnny, / My shifting, shirking, shufling Johnny.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1854		Thackeray Newcomes I 269: That man so calm and well-bred [...] packed cards and cogged dice.
1859		Belfast Morn. News 28 Feb. 4/1: Gambling scenes — of dupes and knaves — of cogged dice.
1866		Sportsman 16 Oct. 2/1: Notes on News [...] [Y]ou can get cogged dice, ‘goosed’ cards, swindling padlocks, and ‘convex mirrors,’ to enable vou to [...] ‘win any game’ .
1873		J. O’Connor Wanderings of a Vagabond 226: According to Horace, the cogging of dice was as well understood in the days of Augustus Caesar as it is in the nineteenth century.
1879		Western Home Jrnl (Lawrence, KS) 13 Feb. 1/6: ‘But, Monsignor [...] either you are joking, or else the dice were cogged’.
1889		H. Smart Long Odds II 114: Ben Israel [...] played, metaphorically, with cogged dice at one and all of his many vocations.
1922		John O’London’s Weekly 457/3: Cogging is another good old word, signifying cheating by means of loaded dice or by flattery.

2. to palm off fraudulently, to put out or utter falsely; thus cogging n. and adj.

1583		P. Stubbes Anatomie of Abuses 95: You will learn to play the Hippocrit, to cogge, lye, and falsifie.
c.1597		Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor III iii: Come, I cannot cog and say thou art this and that, like a many of these lisping hawthorne-buds.
1603		Dekker Wonderfull Yeare 5: If Bad, who (but an Asse) would intreate (as Players do in a cogging Epilogue at the end of a filthie Comedy).
1619		Rowlands Well met Gossip C1: Men will flatter, cogge, and lye.
1634		T. Heywood Hierarchie of Angells (1649) IX 577: I buy stale meat, and at the cheapest rate; Then if my Guests complaine I cog and prate, Out facing it for good.
1674		T. Duffet Empress of Morocco Act I: If this be more than meerly Cogging, Let’s talk no more but straight be jogging.
1726		Caledonian Mercury 6 Sept. 3/1: For guineas in other Mens Breeches / Your Gamesters will palm and will cog.

3. to deceive, to cheat out of; thus cog a dinner, to cheat someone out of a dinner; thus cogging n. and adj.

1568		T. Buckley ‘Libel of Oxford’ in May & Bryson Verse Libel 313: In Buffin gownes some cog, some foyst, / Turning all earnest into game.
1577		Misogonus in Farmer (1906) IV i: It is impossible that this silly thing should either cog or lie.
1584		Three Ladies of London II: Thou doest nothing but cog, lie, and foist with hypocrisie.
1594		Nashe Unfortunate Traveller in Works V (1883–4) 143: He must cogge, lye and prate.
1608		Dekker Lanthorne and Candle-Light Ch. 9: Out of him she cogs a dinner, and then leaues him.
1616		W. Haughton English-Men For My Money C3: O, you cannot cogge: Goe to, take that.
1626		Jonson Staple of News II i: You are all cogging Jacks, a covey of wits.
1639		R. Davenport New Tricke to Cheat the Divell II iii: Let my spruce Lord cogge in his courtly termes, And woe me a thousand vaine protests.
c.1642		T. Killigrew Parson’s Wedding (1664) II i: No Cogging, you have injur’d me.
c.1655		‘The Maid’s Revenge’ in Ebsworth Roxburghe Ballads (1893) VII:1 105: No false dissembling cogging man shall do me wrong.
c.1663		‘Iter Hibernicum’ in Carpenter Verse in English from Tudor & Stuart Eng. (2003) 385: To Lie, to Cogg, to Swear, to Cozen.
1664		C. Cotton Virgil Travestie (1765) Bk I 57: Then must thou play thy pretty Treasons, / Lick her Lips, Flatter her, and Cog. [Ibid.] 59: Cupid, that little cogging Brat.
1677		Behn Rover IV i: Will. Nay, nay, no cogging; she shall know what a precious Mistress I have.
1679–82		‘The West-Country Wooing’ in Ebsworth Roxburghe Ballads (1891) VII:2 252: We know that young men can cog, lye, and flatter.
1691		‘The Time-server’ in Ebsworth Merry Drollery Compleat (1875) 199: I may cog and flatter, so may you.
1719		in D’Urfey Pills to Purge Melancholy IV 70: Your Courtier he can Kiss your hand, / Cog and Lie, and deny.
1741		R. Speed Compter Scuffle 10: Thou cogging / Base foysting Lawyer, thou dost set / Thy Mind on nothing but to get / Thy Living by thy damned Pettifogging.
1766		Midnight Spy 124: Behold a gang of right honourable pickpockets. The venerable company is composed of the Duke of Odds, the Earl of Bilk, Lord Viscount Cogem, Baron Jockey, Sir Samuel Snatchall, [...] and Mr. Live-by-wit.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Cog [...] to coax or wheedle [...] To cog a dinner; to wheedle one out of a dinner.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1822		R. Nares Gloss. (1888) I 176: To cog. To lie or cheat.
1863		G.A. Sala Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous 240: His whole life, indeed, had been but one series of Crimes [...] cheating, cogging, betraying.

4. to cheat at cards, or in any other manner, to crib; thus cogging n.

1610		Beaumont & Fletcher Scornful Lady IV i: Nay, nay, I do beseech you, leave your cogging.
1621		R. Burton ‘Democritus to Reader’ Anatomy of Melancholy (1893) I 70: Such shifting, lying, cogging, plotting.
1630		J. Taylor Taylors Goose in Works (1869) I 107: Nor does he exercise, or take delight, / To cheate, to cogge, to lye, and to backe-bite.
1729		Hell upon Earth 4: Hackney Writers, Poets and Welch[in context of mending clothes] Sollicitors cogging their stockings and dearning their Shirt Collars in order to [...] beg a Dinner.
1753		Foote Englishman in Paris in Works (1799) I 35: Has Count Cog sent you your share out of Mr Puntwell’s losings?
1760		Foote The Minor 27: I can slip, shuffle, cog or cut with the best of ’em.
1770		Foote Lame Lover in Works (1799) II 67: I have (by the help of Captain Cog) been oftner a winner than loser.
c.1830		‘Unfortunate Billy’ in Holloway & Black (1975) I 268: To shuffle, cog, and throw a dice, / He soon became the tippy.
1873		Sl. Dict. 124: To crib from another’s book, as schoolboys often do. This is called ‘cogging over’.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 18: Cog, to cheat [...] to crib from another’s slate or book.
1907		Mercury (Hobart, Tas.) 4 May 7/5: Schoolboy Slang [...] Nor has tho school any admiration for the boy who is ‘copped and flopped for cogging’ (caught and flogged for cheatingg).
1910		P.W. Joyce Eng. As We Speak It In Ireland (1979) 237: Cog; to copy surreptitiously [...] One schoolboy will sometimes copy from another: ‘You cogged that sum’.
c.1940–5		‘Myles na gCopaleen’ Best of Myles (1968) 15: I could distinctly hear snatches of talk like ‘never sober,’ [...] ‘half the stuff cogged from other people’.
1954		‘Flann O’Brien’ ‘Nescience’ Hair of the Dogma (1989) 59: He has cogged the whole thing out of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
1961		(con. 1890–1910) ‘Flann O’Brien’ Hard Life (1962) 21: The brother thought it was to prevent us ‘cogging’ or copying each other’s home exercises.
1976		P. O’Farrell Book of Irish Soldiers’ Jokes 11: The Brothers were strict on cogging.
1981		(con. 1920s) P. Crosbie Your Dinner’s Poured Out! 220: cog to copy.
1994		F. Mac Anna Ship Inspector 37: I’m telling you, there’ll be no more cogging the homework in my class, naha.
2000		P. Howard Miseducation of Ross O’Carroll-Kelly (2004) 176: All the essays I’ve written for you in the past, all the homework I let you cog from me.
2001		G. Coughlan Everyday Eng. and Sl. 🌐 Cog (v): copy someone else’s work at school.

5. to flatter, to wheedle, to wheedle someone out of (something); thus cogging n.

a.1618		J. Harington Epigrams III No. 21: Thou Momus, that dost loue to scoffe and cogge.
1639		J. Taylor Crabtree Lectures 136: You are never kind to mee, but when you are fuddled, and then you can cogge and dissemble with me, to have your own will, or what you want.
1640		Parliament of Women B4: If he cog and offer to kisse you, bid him take you about the middle and kiss the heaviest end .
a.1661		‘A Medley’ Rump Poems and Songs (1662) I 253: I may cog and flatter, so may you.
1688		J. Shirley Triumph of Wit 21: Nay, nay, I do beseech you leave your cogging.
1750		‘The Folly of England’ Ally Croaker’s Garland 6: The downright Man that cannot cog, / Nor flatter, has no Friend at all.
1775		‘Comical Kate’s Answer’ in Mad Tom’s Garland 5: The Power of Love he had never felt, / Till he ogled and cogled Katy, Katy.
1850		E.V. Kenealy Goethe: a New Pantomime 174: This lewd and cogging villain, like a fiend / Whispered away her fame.

6. to have sexual intercourse.

1608–10		Beaumont & Fletcher Philaster II iv: She’ll cog and lie with a whole army before the League shall break.
1613		Middleton Chaste Maid in Cheapside IV i: Cog foggin? I scorn to cog with her, I’ll tell her so, too, in a word near her own language.
1619–20		I.C. Two Merry Milke-Maids Act V: Give but your little wench freely her licour, / And to bed send her, you will find her quicker, / Pearter, imbler, both to kisse and cogge.
1650		H. Nevile Newes from the New Exchange 250: She is good at all games, but especially at cogging the Die, and the Cod-peece.