Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A body louse.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Rough-legged: an epithet applied to birds whose legs are clad with feathers.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun North America, colloquial A
louse . - noun North America, colloquial, childish, usually plural Any
germ orcontaminant , real orimagined , especially from the oppositegender (for pre-pubescent children).
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a parasitic louse that infests the body of human beings
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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He wasn't called a cootie aboard ship, but he was the same bird.
A Yankee in the Trenches Robert Derby Holmes
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I also used to love the folded up fortune tellers (some people called the cootie catchers) that honestly, used to contain mostly mean fortunes! redjet on March 11th 2009 at 10: 18am view redjet's
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The most elaborate preparations for the housing of their men and officers had been made; dugouts of every description, from the temporary "hole in the ground" with a wooden door and a "cootie" bunk to the palatial suite sixty feet underground with cement stairs and floors, and with bathrooms, officers and lounging quarters, all electrically lighted and well heated.
The Fight for the Argonne Personal Experiences of a 'Y' Man William Benjamin West
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Sometimes, while engaged in a "cootie" hunt you think.
Over the Top Arthur Guy Empey 1923
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France is to see the men engaging in a "cootie" hunt.
Over the Top Arthur Guy Empey 1923
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Pediculus humanus capitis); the body louse, better known as the cootie (
unknown title 2009
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Pediculus humanus capitis); the body louse, better known as the cootie (
unknown title 2009
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Pediculus humanus capitis); the body louse, better known as the cootie (
unknown title 2009
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"cootie," who was to become so familiar in the trenches later on.
A Yankee in the Trenches Robert Derby Holmes
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"cootie" hunt; but such is the creed of the trenches.
Over the Top Arthur Guy Empey 1923
abraxaszugzwang commented on the word cootie
the original with a board and pegs, not the newfangled bug-parts version.
January 31, 2007
treeseed commented on the word cootie
The name of a table game, the object of which is to be the first player to complete a comic model of an insect from the supplied plastic parts, as determined by the roll of a die. Its rules are essentially the same as those of the dice game Beetle. The patent is held by Milton Bradley.
_Wikipedia
January 28, 2008
stevechasmar commented on the word cootie
Because the word “cootie” is an Americanism, it is much more likely a loan-word from the Tagalog “kuto” than from the Malay “kutu”. The Philippines was an American colony from 1898 until 1946, a time frame that coincides with the first appearance of the word “cootie”, referring to a body louse, in print during World War I.
August 4, 2011
bilby commented on the word cootie
Coincidence, yes, but not necessarily evidence of a derivational link.
August 4, 2011