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costard

 - 3 dictionary results

cos⋅tard

[kos-terd, kaw-sterd]
–noun
1. a large English variety of apple.
2. Archaic. the head.

Origin:
1250–1300; ME, perh. < AF, equiv. to coste rib (see coast ) + -ard -ard, alluding to the ridges or ribs of the variety
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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cos·tard   (kŏs'tərd)   
n.  
  1. An English variety of large cooking apple.

  2. Archaic The human head.


[Middle English, from Old North French, possibly from coste, rib (from its ribbed appearance), from Latin costa; see kost- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

costard 
1292, perhaps from O.Fr. coste "rib." A kind of large apple with prominent "ribs" (also applied derisively to "the head"); hence costermonger (1514), "man who sells food in the streets of London from a barrow;" used as a term of abuse in Shakespeare.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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