coak

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkəʊk/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkoʊk/
• Rhymes: -əʊk
• Homophones: coke, Coke

Etymology 1

Uncertain. The 1933 Oxford English Dictionary suggests a possible relation to an Old French cognate of Italian cocca (“notch”), to English cock or to coak, caulk ("drive oakum between planks"), "all referring to the fitting of a projection into a notch, indentation, or hollow". (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

coak (countable and uncountable, plural coaks)

1. A wooden dowel.
2. (nautical) The brass bearing in the sheave of a block.

Verb

coak (third-person singular simple present coaks, present participle coaking, simple past and past participle coaked)

1. 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

Noun

coak (countable and uncountable, plural coaks)

1. Obsolete spelling of coke (“coal fuel”).