coak
English edit
Pronunciation edit
Etymology 1 edit
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.) Uncertain. The 1933 Oxford English Dictionary suggests a possible relation to an Old French cognate of Italian cocca (“notch”), to English cock or to cauk,[1] caulk ("drive oakum between planks"), "all referring to the fitting of a projection into a notch, indentation, or hollow".
Noun edit
coak (countable and uncountable, plural coaks)
Verb edit
coak (third-person singular simple present coaks, present participle coaking, simple past and past participle coaked)
- To unite (timbers etc.) by means of tenons or dowels in the edges or face.
- 1832, The Edinburgh Encyclopedia:
- The orlop clamps and shelfpieces are then worked, and the beams and half beams placed thereon, these are coaked and bolted thereto […]
Etymology 2 edit
Noun edit
coak (countable and uncountable, plural coaks)
References edit
- ^ 1788, Robert Wilson, The Seaman's Manual, page 25:
- CAUKING or CALKING of a Ship, driving in oakum into the seams or between the planks, to prevent a ship's leaking.