Meanings
nouncobswan (plural cobswans)
plural cobswans
- obsoleterareA large male swan.
I'am not taken / With a Cob-Swan, or a high-mounting Bull / As fooliſh Leda and Europa were.
1611, Ben[jamin] Jonson, Catiline His Conspiracy, London: […] [William Stansby?] for Walter Burre, →OCLC, Act II1 more example
[T]here's plenty hint / Your pinions have received of late a shock— / Out-soar them, cobswan of the silver flock!
1840 March, Robert Browning, “Book the Second”, in Sordello, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 83
Origin
From cob (“one who is eminent or great”) + swan.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
cobswan. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cobswan
MLA
“cobswan.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cobswan. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cobswan,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cobswan.
Source: cobswan on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.