cot
baby’s bed with high sides
A small bed for a baby with high sides, so the baby cannot fall out. In American English this is called a “crib”.
put [a baby] in a cot
- We put the baby gently back in her cot after she fell asleep.
- Make sure the cot is away from the window and cords for safety.
- They bought a new mattress for the cot before the baby was born.
- In the hospital, each newborn slept in a clear plastic cot beside the mother’s bed.
- The toddler tried to climb out of his cot, so they decided it was time for a bigger bed.
- The baby is sleeping in the cot.
- We put our son in his cot at eight o’clock.
- She bought a white cot for the new baby.
- Please wash the cot sheet today.
narrow portable bed for one
A small, simple bed that is easy to move, often used for camping, extra guests, or in hospitals.
sleep on a cot
- We set up a cot in the living room for our guest.
- During the flood, families slept on cots in the school gym.
- The children stayed in a tent, each with a small cot and a sleeping bag.
- He spent the night on an uncomfortable cot in the hospital corridor.
- The soldiers rolled up their cots and packed the truck before sunrise.
- I slept on a cot in the tent.
- They put a cot in the office for the night guard.
- The hotel gave us a small cot for our child.
- Many people slept on cots in the big hall.
simple framed bed (South Asia)
In Indian and some other South Asian English, a basic bed with a frame, often with ropes or a flat board, used every day in the home.
sit on the cot
- He lay on the wooden cot under the ceiling fan, reading the newspaper.
- They kept an extra cot in the veranda for afternoon naps.
- An old iron cot stood in the corner of the small village house.
- We bought two single cots for the children’s room.
- Her grandmother still prefers to sleep on a rope cot in the courtyard.
- In my village, many people sleep on a cot outside.
- There is a small cot in every room of the house.
- My grandfather sits on the cot and drinks tea.
- They bought a new iron cot from the market.
trigonometric function cotangent
In mathematics, “cot” is short for the function “cotangent.” For an angle, cot(angle) = cos(angle) ÷ sin(angle).
cot [angle]
- In this exercise you must express cot x in terms of sine and cosine.
- The graph of y = cot x has vertical asymptotes where sin x equals zero.
- We use the cot function here because we know both the adjacent side and the opposite side.
- Remember that cot θ is the reciprocal of tan θ, so cot θ = 1 / tan θ.
- On the exam, write your final answer in terms of sin x, cos x, and cot x only.
- In trigonometry, cot x = cos x divided by sin x.
- The teacher drew the graph of y = cot x on the board.
- We wrote cot 30° on the calculator.
- Cot and tan are related functions in math.
small simple house, hut
An old word for a very small house or hut, usually in the country.
live in a cot
- A thin smoke rose from the chimney of the shepherd’s cot high on the moor.
- He was born in a poor cot by the riverside and worked his way to the city.
- The old ballad tells of a girl who left her father’s cot to seek her fortune.
- They passed a lonely cot, half hidden among the trees.
- From the window of her lowly cot she watched the storms roll in from the sea.
- In the old story, a farmer lives in a small cot.
- The poem talks about a poor man in a lonely cot.
- They built a little cot near the river in the tale.
- Her cot stands alone on the hill in the old book.
- Base: cot
- Plural: cots
camp cot
1portable bed for camping
A light, easy-to-carry bed used for sleeping in a tent or in simple places when you go camping.
- We packed a small camp cot for our three-year-old.
- At the summer camp, each child was given a camp cot and a blanket.
- He unfolded his camp cot beside the fire and lay down to watch the stars.
cot bed
1cot that converts to small bed
A baby’s cot that you can change into a small bed for a young child when the child is older.
- They chose a cot bed so it would last until their daughter was four or five.
- The sides of the cot bed can be taken off to turn it into a toddler bed.
- Cot beds are popular because you do not need to buy a new bed so quickly.
cot death
1sudden unexplained death of a baby
The sudden death of a healthy baby while sleeping, with no clear cause found, usually under one year old. In American English this is usually called SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).
- Doctors still do not fully understand the causes of cot death.
- The charity supports parents whose children have died from cot death.
- Health visitors give new parents advice on how to reduce the risk of cot death.
travel cot
1folding baby bed for travel
A baby’s bed that can be folded and carried, used when you travel or visit another place so the baby has a safe place to sleep.
- They brought a travel cot so the baby could sleep in the hotel room.
- The travel cot folds into a small bag that fits in the car.
- Grandma keeps a travel cot at her house for when the grandchildren visit.