cosh
cosh — noun
- coshsingular
- coshesplural
1. a short, heavy club, usually of rubber or metal, used to hit or threaten people.
a short, heavy club, usually of rubber or metal, used to hit or threaten people.
Police found a rubber cosh under the driver's seat after the chase.
collocation: rubber cosh
During the robbery, one guard was carrying a cosh instead of a gun.
A rubber cosh lay inside the glass case at the police museum.
Nadia hid the old cosh in a toolbox behind the garage wall.
用法筆記
This word is chiefly British and often appears in crime stories, police reports, or older news language. In broader English, speakers may choose club or baton instead.
2. a drug given to make an agitated person quiet and easy to control.
a drug given to make an agitated person quiet and easy to control.
The nurse said the cosh would make the patient sleepy for hours.
drug effect: make someone sleepy
After the man started screaming, staff asked the doctor for a cosh.
Within minutes, the cosh had calmed the shouting prisoner in the van.
Before the move, prison staff gave the patient a cosh to quiet him.
- sedative
The standard medical term; less slangy and less judgmental than cosh.
- tranquilizer
Focuses on calming someone, often in medical or police contexts.
用法筆記
This sense is informal and often sounds critical, suggesting the drug is used to quiet someone rather than to treat them in a careful medical way.
cosh — verb
- coshpresent simple I / you / we / they
- coshes3rd person singular
- coshing-ing form
- coshedpast simple
1. to use a cosh or similar heavy club to knock or injure someone.
to use a cosh or similar heavy club to knock or injure someone.
The thief coshed the night guard and grabbed the office keys.
verb pattern: cosh + person
Before he could shout, the guard was coshed from behind near the lift.
passive use: be coshed
In the film, the spy coshes a driver outside the bank door.
By dawn, someone had coshed Arjun on the head near the gate.
文法句型
cosh + person
cosh + person + on the head
用法筆記
This use usually appears in crime or action contexts. It often occurs with details such as on the head, from behind, or with the person attacked given as the direct object.
常見錯誤
2. to make someone quiet and easy to control by giving them a strong drug.
to make someone quiet and easy to control by giving them a strong drug.
Doctors coshed the angry patient before moving him to a locked room.
medical sense: drug someone to subdue them
The kidnappers coshed the guard so they could leave the building.
Staff refused to cosh the teenager just because he shouted at them.
A prison officer admitted they had coshed the man too quickly.
- sedate
The standard medical verb; more neutral and technical.
- tranquilize
Focuses on making someone calm, often in clinical language.
- drug
Broader and can describe giving any drug, not specifically to subdue.
文法句型
cosh + person
用法筆記
Unlike verb sense 1, this use is about forcing calm with drugs, not striking someone. It often sounds disapproving or harsh, especially when the drug is used for control.