Etymology From Middle English cote, from the Old English cote, the feminine form of cot (“small house”); doublet of cot (in the sense of “cottage”) and more distantly related to cottage. Cognate to Dutch kot.
1
A cottage or hut.
2
A small structure built to contain domesticated animals such as sheep, pigs or pigeons.
Watching where shepherds pen their flocks, at eve, / In hurdled cotes.1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
Etymology Probably related to French côté (“side”) via Middle French costé.
1
Obsolete To go side by side with; hence, to pass by; to outrun and get before.
A dog cotes a hare.
We coted them on the way, and hither are they coming.c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
1 more example
…strength to pull down a bull—swiftness to cote an antelope.1825, Walter Scott, The Talisman, A. and C. Black (1868), 37