- a sneak, an inquisitive or prying person. _Greek_, κύων, a dog. Term given by Freemasons to all uninitiated persons. Used in Anderson’s _Constitutions_, edit. 1769, p. 97. If derived from κύων, its use was probably suggested by such passages in the N. T. as Matt. vii. 6, and Phil. iii. 2. The Moslems apply dog in a similar manner. It is probably Oriental. Other authorities say it is from COWAN, or KIRWAN, a Scottish word signifying a man who builds rough stone walls without mortar—a man who, though he builds, is not a practical mason.
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Position in the dictionary: 808 of 4022 slang words.Next words in the dictionary: cow’s grease, coxy-loxy, crab, crabs, crabshells, crack, crack a bottle, crack up, cracked up, cracking a crust
Previous words in the dictionary: cow-lick, cow-hocked, cow-cow, cover-down, coventry, cove, couter, couple-beggar, county-crop, country-ship