Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A medieval villein who occupied a cottage with a small piece of land in return for labor.
- noun In Scotland and Ireland, a farm worker who, in return for a cottage, gives labor at a fixed rate when required.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A Scotch spelling of
cotter .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Scotland Alternative form of
cotter (peasant inhabiting a cottage)
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun fastener consisting of a wedge or pin inserted through a slot to hold two other pieces together
- noun a peasant farmer in the Scottish Highlands
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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They were, indeed, like other cottars, a kind of feudal dependents, occupying an acre or two of the land, in return for which they performed certain stipulated labour, called cottar-wark.
Robert Falconer George MacDonald 1864
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He was what is called a cottar in Scotland, which name implies that of the large farm upon which he worked for yearly wages he had a little bit of land to cultivate for his own use.
Ranald Bannerman's Boyhood George MacDonald 1864
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He was forced to turn off in order to find a house at which to ask guidance, and the cottar who came out to greet him eyed him with sharp attention when he asked for La Musarderie.
A River So Long 2010
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Here, had a cottar encountered me under such circumstances, I would doubtless have been thought a witch or a fairy.
Sick Cycle Carousel 2010
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"I'm a man of my hands," said the cottar confidently.
A River So Long 2010
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The little party of four stood in its dappled shade by the fallen ruins of a mossy old hut, left long ago by some forgotten cottar.
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"I'm a man of my hands," said the cottar confidently.
Brother Cadfael's Penance Peters, Ellis, 1913- 1994
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He was forced to turn off in order to find a house at which to ask guidance, and the cottar who came out to greet him eyed him with sharp attention when he asked for La Musarderie.
Brother Cadfael's Penance Peters, Ellis, 1913- 1994
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This wasn't a cottar or a herder that stood before him.
Dragonfly in Amber Gabaldon, Diana 1992
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Hugh knew every cottar and tinker, every farmhouse and manor within four parishes.
Dragonfly in Amber Gabaldon, Diana 1992
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