adj, noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A weapon made of leather-covered metal similar to a blackjack.
2. 2
   hyperbolic cosine uncountable
3. 3
   a piece of metal covered by leather with a flexible handle; used for hitting people wordnet
4. 4
   A blunt instrument such as a bludgeon or truncheon.
5. 5
   The cane. UK, dated, slang

   "There is no need here to digress on the advantages or otherwise of using a 'cosh' in schools […]"

Verb

1. 1
   To strike with a weapon of this kind. transitive
2. 2
   hit with a cosh, usually on the head wordnet

Adjective

1. 1
   cozy; snug Scotland

Synonyms

All synonyms

blackjackblackjackclubcudgelsap

Example

More examples

"There is no need here to digress on the advantages or otherwise of using a 'cosh' in schools […]"

Etymology

Probably from Romani košter (“stick”).

Related phrases

chemical coshcosh pocketliquid coshunder the coshblunt instrumenthyperbolic cosinehyperbolic function

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.