cobswan

English

Etymology

From cob (“one who is eminent or great”) +‎ swan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɒbswɒn/

Noun

cobswan (plural cobswans)

1. (obsolete, rare) A large male swan.
   • 1611, Ben[jamin] Jonson, Catiline His Conspiracy, London: […] [William Stansby?] for Walter Burre, →OCLC, Act II:

     I'am not taken / With a Cob-Swan, or a high-mounting Bull / As fooliſh Leda and Europa were.

   • 1840 March, Robert Browning, “Book the Second”, in Sordello, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 83:

     [T]here's plenty hint / Your pinions have received of late a shock— / Out-soar them, cobswan of the silver flock!

References

• “cobswan”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.