1720.—"Item. I leave 200 pagodas for a tomb to be erected in the burial place in form as follows. Four large pillars, each to be six covids high, and six covids distance one from the other; the top to be arched, and on each pillar a cherubim; and on the top of the arch the effigy of Justice."—Testament of Charles Davers, Merchant, in Wheeler, ii. 338.
[1726.—"Cobidos." See quotation under [LOONGHEE].]
c. 1760.—According to Grose the covid at Surat was 1 yard English [the greater coveed of Fryer], at Madras ½ a yard; but he says also: "At Bengal the same as at Surat and Madras."
1794.—"To be sold, on very reasonable terms, About 3000 covits of 2-inch Calicut Planks."—Bombay Courier, July 19.
The measure has long been forgotten under this name in Bengal, though used under the native name hāth. From Milburn (i. 334, 341, &c.) it seems to have survived on the West Coast in the early part of last century, and possibly may still linger.
[1612.—"½ corge of pintados of 4 hastas the piece."—Danvers, Letters, i. 232.]
COVIL, s. Tam. kō-v-il, 'God-house,' a Hindu temple; and also (in Malabar) a palace, [also in the form Colghum, for Kovilagam]. In colloquial use in S. India and Ceylon. In S. India it is used, especially among the French, for 'a church'; also among the uneducated English.
[1796.—"I promise to use my utmost endeavours to procure for this Raja the colghum of Pychi for his residence...."—Treaty, in Logan, Malabar, iii. 254.]
COWCOLLY, n.p. The name of a well-known lighthouse and landmark at the entrance of the Hoogly, in Midnapur District. Properly, according to Hunter, Geonkhālī. In Thornton's English Pilot (pt. iii. p. 7, of 1711) this place is called Cockoly.
COW-ITCH, s. The irritating hairs on the pod of the common Indian climbing herb Mucuna pruriens, D.C., N. O. Leguminosae, and the plant itself. Both pods and roots are used in native practice. The name is doubtless the Hind. kewānch (Skt. kapi-kachchhu), modified in Hobson-Jobson fashion, by the 'striving after meaning.'