Cotyle
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Alternative form of kotyle (“cantharus, a kind of ancient Greek and Roman cup”). alt-of, alternative, historical
"[…] which is often falsely called Corinthian, but is really either Attic or Attico-Boeotian: the vases are mostly cups like this, or cotylai: a few examples, the cups Athens 649 and 1106, the cup B.M. 1920, 2-16, 1, and a cotyle in Cambridge."
- 2 A unit of Greek liquid measure. historical
"[…] if, however, the proportion given in § 3 of one cotyle to two choenices be taken, it would be but two χόες. […] The prisoners at Sphacteria were allowed two Attic choenices of meal and two cotylae of wine; their servants were given half this amount (Thuc. iv. 16)."
- 3 Synonym of hemina (“a unit of Roman liquid measure”). historical
"Again, they give the patient a cotyle of hulwort, clary seed, or caper root with half a drachm of squill; or an acetabulum of germander or thyme in three cyathi of oxymel; or two cotylae of alexanders seed with three cyathi of wine; or a cotyle of fennel seed and libanotis (Latin rosmarinum, ‘rosemary’) mixed with wine; or a drachm of gum ammoniac with three cyathi of oxymel."
- 4 Synonym of acetabulum (“any of various cup-shaped joints, organs, or skin features in various animals”).
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"[…] which is often falsely called Corinthian, but is really either Attic or Attico-Boeotian: the vases are mostly cups like this, or cotylai: a few examples, the cups Athens 649 and 1106, the cup B.M. 1920, 2-16, 1, and a cotyle in Cambridge."
Etymology
From Latin cotylē and Ancient Greek κοτύλη (kotúlē, “cup, half-pint”). Doublet of kotyle and kotylos.
More for "cotyle"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.