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Wiktionary

cozen

English

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Etymology 1

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From coz(y) +‎ -en.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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cozen (third-person singular simple present cozens, present participle cozening, simple past and past participle cozened)

  1. (intransitive) To become cozy; (by extension) to become acquainted, comfortable, or familiar with.
    • 2008, Hannah Howell, Silver Flame, page 354:
      "As I see it, Master Fraser, a 'bairn' ought to be verra concerned when a mon thrice her age cozens up to her."
    • 2013, Rick Cox, Orphan Moon, page 180:
      A wasp nest cozened up in the corner of the far ceiling.
    • 2013, Kim Stanley Robinson, The Wild Shore, page 26:
      I heard someone at the swap meet say they were going to cozen up to someone, and someone else told me my sales pitch was a filibuster.
Usage notes
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  • Usually used with up.

Etymology 2

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Perhaps from obsolete Italian cozzonare (“to cheat”), from cozzone (“middleman, broker”), from Latin cōciō (“dealer”).

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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cozen (third-person singular simple present cozens, present participle cozening, simple past and past participle cozened)

  1. (archaic) To cheat; to defraud; to deceive, usually by small arts, or in a pitiful way. [from late 16th c.]
    Synonyms: beguile; see also Thesaurus:deceive
    • c. 1590 (date written), G[eorge] P[eele], The Old Wiues Tale. […], London: […] Iohn Danter, for Raph Hancocke, and Iohn Hardie, […], published 1595, →OCLC:
      […] good Vulcan, for Cupids sake that hath cousned us all: befriend us as thou maiest […]
    • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 271:
      What diuell was't / That thus hath couſend you at hoodman-blinde?
    • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 8, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:
      [I]t was resolved that he was to do his duty; that is, to redeem his vow; that is, to pay a debt cozened from him by a sharper […]
    • a. 1668 (date written), Jeremy Taylor, “Of Christian Simplicity”, in Reginald Heber, editor, The Whole Works of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D.D. […], volume VI, London: Ogle, Duncan, and Co. […]; and Richard Priestley, […], published 1822, →OCLC, page 163:
      It is certain that children may be cozened into goodness, and sick men to health, and passengers in a storm into safety; and the reason of these is, — because not only the end is fair, and charitable, and just, but the means are such which do no injury to the persons which are to receive benefit; […] .
    • 1866, “Spoils, By a Receiver”, in Charles Chauncey Burr, editor, The Old Guard: A Monthly Journal Devoted to the Principles of 1776 and 1787, volume 4, page 497:
      The man, too, who has been matrimonially cozened, "would all the world might be cozened," for he has been cozened, and beaten too; but with him the cudgel is "hallowed;" he would "hang it o'er the altar;" perhaps for the reason given by the "Merry Wives of Windsor," because "it hath done meritorious service;" and no sooner is he, by a seemingly merciful disposition of Providence, released from the cudgeler, but he is in haste to be cozened and beaten again.
    • 1914, Rafael Sabatini, The Gates of Doom, published 2001, page 217:
      But that you should have been cozened with me, that my cozening should in part have been a natural sequel to your own, rather than an independent error of mine, is a helpful reflection to me in this dark hour.
Usage notes
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Modern usage is generally to affect a dated style.

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Translations
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References

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