Costal-nerved
(Cos"tal-nerved`) a. (Bot.) Having the nerves spring from the midrib.
Costard
(Cos"tard) n. [Prob. fr. OF. coste rib, side, F. côte, and meaning orig., a ribbed apple, from the
ribs or angles on its sides. See Coast.]
1. An apple, large and round like the head.
Some [apples] consist more of air than water . . . ; others more of water than wind, as your costards
and pomewaters.
Muffett.
2. The head; — used contemptuously.
Try whether your costard or my bat be the harder.
Shak.
Costardmonger
(Cos"tard*mon`ger) n. A costermonger.
Costate
(Cos"tate Cos"ta*ted) a. [L. costatus, fr. costa rib.] Having ribs, or the appearance of ribs;
(Bot.) having one or more longitudinal ribs.
Costean
(Cos"tean`) v. i. [Cornish cothas dropped + stean tin.] To search after lodes. See Costeaning.
Costeaning
(Cos"tean`ing), n. The process by which miners seek to discover metallic lodes. It consist
in sinking small pits through the superficial deposits to the solid rock, and then driving from one pit to
another across the direction of the vein, in such manner as to cross all the veins between the two pits.
Costellate
(Cos*tel"late) a. [L. costa rib.] Finely ribbed or costated.
Coster
(Cos"ter) n.[Abbrev. of costermonger.] One who hawks about fruit, green vegetables, fish, etc.
Costermonger
(Cos"ter*mon`ger) n. [See Costard.] An apple seller; a hawker of, or dealer in, any kind
of fruit or vegetables; a fruiterer. [Written also costardmonger.]
Costiferous
(Cos*tif"er*ous) a. [Costa + -ferous.] (Anat.) Rib-bearing, as the dorsal vertebræ.
Costive
(Cos"tive) a. [OF. costevé, p. p. of costever, F. constiper, L. constipare to press closely together,
to cram; con- + stipare to press together, cram. See Stipulate, Stiff, and cf. Constipate.]
1. Retaining fecal matter in the bowels; having too slow a motion of the bowels; constipated.
2. Reserved; formal; close; cold. [Obs.] "A costive brain." Prior. "Costive of laughter." B. Jonson.
You must be frank, but without indiscretion; and close, but without being costive.
Lord Chesterfield.
3. Dry and hard; impermeable; unyielding. [Obs.]
Clay in dry seasons is costive, hardening with the sun and wind.
Mortimer.
Costively
(Cos"tive*ly), adv. In a costive manner.
Costiveness
(Cos"tive*ness), n.
1. An unnatural retention of the fecal matter of the bowels; constipation.
2. Inability to express one's self; stiffness. [Obs.]
A reverend disputant of the same costiveness in public elocution with myself.
Wakefield.
