COAST (Lat. costa, rib, side) is now confined to the sea-shore, but formerly was used of the side of any person, place, or thing, and in AV is freq. used lor the border or neighbourhood of any place, inland or other. Thus Mt 2" ' Herod . . . sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Beth- lehem, and in all the coasts thereof.'
• 't would be unreasonable,' says Lig^htfoot {On a Fresh Re- vision?, p. 104), ' 'o expect the English reader to understand that when St. Paul passes "through the upver coasts" (ri MvaiTi^ixa. u-hr,) on bis way to Ephesus (Ac 19i), he does in fact traverse the hi;^h land which Ues in the interior of Asia Minor. Again, in the gospels, when he reads of our Loni \isiting '* the coasts of Tyre and Sidon " (Mt 1521, jik 73'), he naturally thinks of the sea-board, knowing these to bo maritime cities, whereas the word in one passa^^e stands for /*5oti " parts," and in the other for tpiec "borders," and the circumstances sugc<»8t rather the eastern than the western frontier of the region. ADd per- haps also his notions of the geography of Pal. may be utterly ^on^lsed bv reading that Capernaum is situate " upon the zi^- K)a3t"(Mt*18).' J. HASTIkSS.
COAT (n}h5 kSthdneth, x"'<i»'), made of cotton, linen, fine wool, and probably silk. The ^:ltzizzl\ of home-life and ordinary work, worn under the 3loak and over the undershirt, or sheet (I'"?;), and sometimes instead of it, drawn tightly round the waist by belt or girdle, in shape like a dressing- po^^•n or cassock (see Dress, imder kcthineth). It IS the coat of Joseph (Gn 37'), of the priests (Ex 28*, Lv 8"), of women's dress (Ca 5»), of Christ (Jn 19^), of the disciples (Mt S", Lk 6»). Coat is translated ' garment ' in 2 S IS'*- '», Ezr 2«^ Neh 7™, Jude ^ ; ' clothes' in Mk W^ ; ' robe ' in Is 22='. The coat of 1 S 2'*, the annual present to Samuel, was a woollen cloak (mS'il) ; that of Jn 21', fisher's c. {iTrefSiiTT]!), would be a large cloak for covering in public and protection at night, the fisherman merely wearing a large apron or waist-clotli when busy with the net. The coat of Dn 3'-', RV hoscn C'S-iS, Arab, sirw&l), was the skirt-trousers of Persian costume.
Coat of Mail.— See Brigandine and Breast- plate. G. M. Mackie.
COCK (i\iicTup, alertor, rjalhts). — The domestic fowl may be the bird mentioned 1 K 4^, c-ii-13 bnr- hurim, and tran.'slated in AV and HY fatted fotcts. It is not unlikely that Solomon, who had com- merce with the far E., and inijjorted peacocks and apes from Ophir ( 1 K 10'-"-), might have brought barn- yard fowls from the same direction. The original stock of these fowls is usually supposed to be indigen- ous in farther India and China. Gnlhis gignnteits, of Malacca, seems to be the feral state of some of the larger tame breeds, and G. hnnkiva, of Java, which is regarded by many as specifically the same as G. ferriiffineit.1, the juvrjle fowl, is supposed to be the parent of our ordinary poultry. In India, poultry have been domesticatea from the earliest times. But no representation of them is found on the Egj'ptian monuments. Pindar mentions the cock, and Homer names a man 'AX^/crwp, the word
for a cock. Aristophanes calls it a Persian bird. It may have been introduced into Pal. before it came to Greece. Nevertheless, unless in this doubtful passage, it is not mentioned in OT. Commen- tators have tried various other renderings ol barbiirSm, as swcns, guinea fowls, geese, capons, and flitted fish. But these are pure conjectures.
The Konians were very mucdi given to raising fowls, both for food ana for cock-fighting. The Mishna states that cocks were not allowed in Jerus., for fear of polluting the holy things. But there is rabbinic evidence that the Jews kept fowls. The Romans and other foreigners also kept them.
The cock is mentioned in NT in connexion with Peter's denial of Christ (Mt 26"-" etc.). Cock- crowing (Mk 13^) refers to the habit of crowing before the dawn. This is the second cock-crowing (Mk 14*"), the first being at midnight, but less certain or less heard than the second. Hence the other evangelists speak of the crowing of the cock without specifying tliat it was to be a second one (Mt 26**, Lk'22^, Jn 135^). In point of fact, cocks crow somewhat irregularly at intervals in the night. The hen is alluded to (Lk 13") with reference to her motherly care of her brood, with which the Saviour compares his solicitude for Jerusalem. G. E. Post.
COCKATRICE.— See Serpent.
COCK-CROWING {i\(icTopo(pui>la, Mk J3»).— See Cock, Time.
COCKER Sir 30» '0. thy child, and he shall
make thee afraid,' that is 'pamper' (Gr. Ti6i)viu>, nurse, suckle). Cf. Shaks. A ing John V. i. 70— ' Shall a beardless boy, A cocker'd silken wanton, brave our fields?*
and Hull (IGll) 'No creatures more cocker their young than the Asse and the Ape.' The word is not found earlier than the 15th cent. Its origin is obscure. J. HASTINGS.
COCKLE (nv^xy bo'shdh, /Sdrot, spina).— The last word of the second member of a parallelism (Job 31"), ' instead of wheat let thistles grow, and instead of barley, cockle.' The signification of the parallel word nin h6ah is general, brier or bramble. There- fore this word should be general. And as the first is harmful, the second should be the same. The root of the word is b'.x3 = ' stink,' hence the marginal renderings, AV stinking weeds, RV noimme weeds, suit the case well. There is no want of such in the Holy Land. There are a number of ill-smelling goose weeds, Solanum nig- rum, L., Datura Stramonium, L. (the stink-weed i^ax excellence), D. Metel, L., and several fetid arums, and henbane, and mandrake. Neglected fields are overrun by the host of thorny and unsavoury weeds which atllict the farmer in all parts of Pal. and Syria. Some have thouglit that bo'sh&h means ergot or smut or Inint, and others tares. There is, however, no ground for this.