cod
noun
any of several soft-rayed food fishes of the family Gadidae, especially Gadus morhua, of North Atlantic waters.
cod
1 American
[kod]
/ kɒd /
noun
-
cod,
plural
-
cods
plural
-
any of several soft-rayed food fishes of the family Gadidae, especially Gadus morhua, of North Atlantic waters.
-
a closely related fish, Gadus macrocephalus, of the North Pacific Ocean.
-
any of several unrelated fishes, as rockfishes of the genus Sebastes.
cod
2
American
[kod]
/ kɒd /
noun
COD.
3
American
Or
cod.
abbreviation
C.O.D.
4
American
Or
c.o.d.
abbreviation
Commerce.
cod
1
British
/ kɒd /
noun
-
any of the gadoid food fishes of the genus Gadus, esp G. morhua (or G. callarias ), which occurs in the North Atlantic and has a long body with three rounded dorsal fins: family Gadidae . They are also a source of cod-liver oil
-
any other fish of the family Gadidae See gadid
-
any of various unrelated Australian fish, such as the Murray cod
COD
2
British
abbreviation
-
cash on delivery
-
(in the US) collect on delivery
cod
3
British
/ kɒd /
noun
-
dialect a pod or husk
-
an obsolete word for scrotum
-
obsolete a bag or envelope
cod
4
British
/ kɒd /
verb
-
slang to make fun of; tease
-
slang to play a trick on; fool
noun
-
slang a hoax or trick
-
slang a fraud; hoaxer
he's an old cod
adjective
cod
5
British
/ kɒd /
noun
Cod
6
British
noun
COD
Cultural
Usage
What does C. O. D. mean? C. O. D. is an abbreviation for cash on delivery, referring to an arrangement in which payment for a purchase is made directly by the purchaser to the person who delivers the item. C. O. D. can also stand for collect on delivery, meaning the same thing. That’s because C. O. D. doesn’t necessarily always mean that actual cash (paper money) is required (though it often used to mean this). Sometimes, a check, money order, or credit card payment will be accepted as C. O. D. C. O. D. can be used as a noun, as in Sorry, we don’t accept C. O. D.s. It can also be used as an adverb, as in We’re shipping it C. O. D.; as an adjective, as in Our C. O. D. orders are behind schedule; and in other variations. Although the term can be spelled without periods, they’re usually included to make it clear that the term is an abbreviation. Example: Most of our shipments are done C. O. D., and we have a high percentage of successful payments.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cod1
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English; origin uncertain
Origin of cod2
First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English codd; akin to Old Norse koddi “pillow”
Origin of C.O.D.4
An Americanism dating back to 1855–60
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“We can act very quickly because we are small,” said Ragnar Thor Gunnarsson, CEO of cod liver company Akraborg, which is owned by Lysi.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Bass frequently resorted to her trademark nervous laughter and repeated obviously crafted lines with all the enthusiasm of someone gulping down cod oil.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
Baseball-sized salt cod fritters arrive golden and hot.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026
Arley Harriman, a retired advertising executive living in Delavan, Wisc., said she loves Culver’s service and cleanliness, plus the quality of its cod sandwiches and custard ice cream.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
Down past where Old Fishfoot’s trident pointed was an alley where they sold fried cod, crisp and golden brown outside and flaky white within.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
“For graduation, she sent me a suit of clothes C.O.D. - cash on delivery,” he said.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 23, 2017
“For graduation, she sent me a suit of clothes C.O.D. — cash on delivery,” he said.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 22, 2017
Customers called in orders, and he delivered C.O.D.
From New York Times ● Apr. 15, 2011
"Can't I send it C.O.D.?" asked the G.I.
From Time Magazine Archive
That was the gang of organized boosters, who would deliver, to order, in one day, C.O.D., any kind of garment you desired.
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
And, finally, Treyarch and Raven are promising a return of Zombies, the massively popular COD horde mode that first arrived with Treyarch’s World of War in 2008.
From The Verge ● Aug. 26, 2020
Back home in Ormond Beach, we play a lot of COD, a great team game.
From Golf Digest ● Jun. 25, 2019
Usually when you first sign up with Diamond, you write a COD check or whatever to get your comics delivered to your store.
From Slate ● Nov. 2, 2017
Of course, the staple of COD are robust multiplayer matches.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 5, 2015
But he refused to travel by airplane or accept packages COD, lived in fear of unexpected visitors, and had not been abroad in eight or nine years.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
Many Icelanders remember the so-called Cod Wars with the UK that Iceland won in the 1970s.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
That kid is striking out with a bat and assorted gear that cost more than a Cape Cod weekend.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
But it’s not just the island’s evil nature that proves a foil to Tom’s ambitions to turn the town into a New England attraction that rivals Cape Cod or Martha’s Vineyard.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
“Contender,” the 1,700-pound male shark headed for Cape Cod.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
Seals were all over Cape Cod, but I had never seen one in Rockport.
From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen
"They'll order two cods and one chips to share, I think that's their way of trying to save their money."
From BBC ● May 13, 2026
Apparently some of the cods discovered they could activate the feeder by hooking the loop onto their tag and swimming a short distance away.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 8, 2017
In May 2014 a study highlighted an example of innovative tool use by Atlantic cods being held in captivity for aquaculture research.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 8, 2017
These clever cods honed their technique through hundreds of “tests”—and it became a finely tuned series of goal-directed, coordinated movements.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 8, 2017
The cods of musk are natural bags or emunctories, found near the genitals on the males of an animal named Moschus Moschiferus, or Thibet Musk.
From A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 07 by Robert Kerr
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
