Definition of CODPIECE

Examples of codpiece in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The 9th annual San Jose fair drew more than 3,000 fans of corsets and codpieces over the weekend. — Karen D'souza, The Mercury News, "San Jose Renaissance and Fantasy Faire holds court downtown," 4 Aug. 2019 Who can forget Edmund's brief stint as a corrupt Archbishop of Canterbury and that infamous Black Russian codpiece? — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, "Rumor has it there’s a cunning plan to bring back Blackadder for fifth season," 1 July 2019 Deacon’s mishmash of bloomers, codpieces, and 16th-century ruffs made of false hair was equal parts Fred Flintstone and Tim Burton. — Lilah Ramzi, Vogue, "The New York City Ballet Hosts a Fall Gala to Remember With Costumes by Gareth Pugh, Alberta Ferretti, and Giles Deacon," 28 Sep. 2018 Other variations on the theme included a black codpiece-cup and a pair of red leather hot pants, all accessorized with pale, hairy limbs. — Liana Satenstein, Vogue, "Are You Ready for the Return of Tighty-Whities? Gucci Sure Is," 25 Sep. 2018 With all the Broadway pizzazz anyone could want, the hilarious Something Rotten! has arrived at the Academy of Music (through March 4) with codpieces blazing and couplets rhyming. — Toby Zinman, Philly.com, "'Something Rotten!' at Academy of Music is something hilarious," 28 Feb. 2018 European men around the same time wore codpieces to advertise their phallic prowess. — John Blake, CNN, "The fall of the sagging pants era is upon us," 20 Oct. 2017 The show begins with a prologue delivered (in Italian, with supertitles) by a commedia dell’arte-style clown in a codpiece (an antic Francesca Sarah Toich), who gleefully describes the transformative power of love. — Ben Brantley, New York Times, "Review: A Flock of Shylocks Transforms ‘Merchant of Venice’," 25 Sep. 2017 The Bulge, the Tumor, the codpiece, was the safest place structurally in all of Trump Land by then. — Jeff Vandermeer, Slate Magazine, "“Trump Land”," 10 Feb. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'codpiece.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

History and Etymology for codpiece

Middle English codpese, from cod "bag, scrotum" (going back to Old English codd, akin to Middle Dutch codde "cylindrical piece of wood," Old Frisian kudda "cudgel," Middle Low German kudde, kodde "hog," Old Norse koddi "pillow, scrotum," all from a Germanic base denoting something distended and unevenly shaped) + pese piece entry 1

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