Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Snug, comfortable, and warm. synonym: comfortable.
  • adjective Marked by friendly intimacy.
  • adjective Informal Marked by close association for devious purposes.
  • intransitive verb To make oneself snug and comfortable.
  • intransitive verb Informal To try to get on friendly or intimate terms; ingratiate oneself.
  • intransitive verb Informal To cause to appear comfortable or conducive to intimacy.
  • noun A padded or knitted covering placed especially over a teapot to keep the tea hot.
  • noun A hollow cylindrical holder, usually made of foam rubber or a similar soft material, used to keep a beverage cold while being held.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Snug; comfortable; warm; social.
  • noun A kind of padded covering or cap put over a teapot to keep in the heat after the tea has been infused.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A wadded covering, often decorative, for a teakettle or other vessel to keep the contents hot. Also called tea cozy
  • adjective Snug; comfortable; easy; contented.
  • adjective engraving Chatty; talkative; sociable; familiar.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Affording comfort and warmth; snug; social
  • noun A padded or knit covering to keep an item warm, especially a teapot or egg.
  • noun A padded or knit covering for any item (often an electronic device such as a laptop computer).
  • verb To become snug and comfortable.
  • verb To become friendly with.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective suggesting connivance
  • noun a padded cloth covering to keep a teapot warm
  • adjective having or fostering a warm or friendly and informal atmosphere
  • adjective enjoying or affording comforting warmth and shelter especially in a small space

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably of Scandinavian origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Scots, later adapted into English.

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Examples

  • Members of Congress and President Obama have criticized what they call the cozy relationship between regulators and oil companies and have vowed to reform MMS, which both regulates the industry and collects billions in royalties from it.

    BP Oil Spill Live Feed: Company To Cut Video During Top Kill Procedure 2010

  • No, they said, a cozy is a mystery story in which there is little or no gore (Al, Vidal or otherwise), no one uses "bad language," (which apparently doesn't mean ending one's sentence with a preposition) and there isn't any sex.

    Cozy Up to the Bar, Pal 2006

  • No, they said, a cozy is a mystery story in which there is little or no gore (Al, Vidal or otherwise), no one uses "bad language," (which apparently doesn't mean ending one's sentence with a preposition) and there isn't any sex.

    June 2006 2006

  • Members of Congress and President Barack Obama have criticized what they call the cozy relationship between regulators and oil companies and vowed to reform MMS, which both regulates the industry and collects billions in royalties from it.

    Newsvine - Get Smarter Here 2010

  • President Barack Obama have criticized what they call the cozy relationship between regulators and oil companies and have vowed to reform MMS, which both regulates the industry and collects billions in royalties from it.

    ABC News: Top Stories 2010

  • President Barack Obama have criticized what they call the cozy relationship between regulators and oil companies and have vowed to reform MMS, which both regulates the industry and collects billions in royalties from it.

    KRDO.com 2010

  • Members of Congress and President Obama have criticized what they call the cozy relationship between regulators and oil companies and have vowed to reform MMS, which both regulates the industry and collects billions in royalties from it.

    Channel3000.com - Local News 2010

  • Members of Congress and President Barack Obama have criticized what they call the cozy relationship between regulators and oil companies and vowed to reform MMS, which both regulates the industry and collects billions in royalties from it.

    Dallas / Fort Worth news, weather, sports, traffic and video from cbs11tv.com 2010

  • President Barack Obama have criticized what they call the cozy relationship between regulators and oil companies and have vowed to reform MMS, which both regulates the industry and collects billions in royalties from it.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com 2010

  • Members of Congress and President Barack Obama have criticized what they call the cozy relationship between regulators and oil companies and vowed to reform MMS, which both regulates the industry and collects billions in royalties from it.

    CBS 2 - KCAL 9 - Los Angeles - Southern California - LA Breaking News, Weather, Traffic, Sports 2010

Comments

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  • Ineffectual teapot encirclement.

    September 19, 2007

  • At home, on the couch, wrapped up in an old blanket.

    September 16, 2008

  • "So the U.S. has to stand by, watching Abbas stiffen his spine and negotiate with Hamas, while hoping he doesn't emulate al-Maliki's game of cozying up to the Iranians as a counterweight to the Americans."

    - Ira Chernus, Obama Trapped Behind Wall of Mideast Containment, tomdispatch.com, 6 Sep 2009.

    October 7, 2009