Try whether your costard or my bat be the harder.
Shak.
Cos"tard*mon`ger (-m?n`g?r), n. A costermonger.
{ Cos"tate (k?s"t?t), Cos"ta*ted (-t?-t?d), } a. [L. costatus, fr. costa rib.] Having ribs, or the appearance of ribs; (Bot.) having one or more longitudinal ribs.
Cos"tean` (k?s"t?n`), v. i. [Cornish cothas dropped + stean tin.] To search after lodes. See Costeaning.
Cos"tean`ing, n. The process by which miners seek to discover metallic lodes. It consist in sinking small pits through the superficial deposits to the solid rock, and then driving from one pit to another across the direction of the vein, in such manner as to cross all the veins between the two pits.
Cos*tel"late (k?s-t?l"l?t), a. [L. costa rib.] Finely ribbed or costated.
Cos"ter (k?s"t?r), n.[Abbrev. of costermonger.] One who hawks about fruit, green vegetables, fish, etc.
Cos"ter*mon`ger (k?s"t?r-m?n`g?r), n. [See Costard.] An apple seller; a hawker of, or dealer in, any kind of fruit or vegetables; a fruiterer. [Written also costardmonger.]
Cos*tif"er*ous (k?s-t?f"?r-?s), a. [Costa + -ferous.] (Anat.) Rib-bearing, as the dorsal vertebrŠ.
Cos"tive (k?s"t?v), a. [OF. costevÚ, p. p. of costever, F. constiper, L. constipare to press closely together, to cram; con- + stipare to press together, cram. See Stipulate, Stiff, and cf. Constipate.] 1. Retaining fecal matter in the bowels; having too slow a motion of the bowels; constipated.
2. Reserved; formal; close; cold. [Obs.] "A costive brain." Prior. "Costive of laughter." B. Jonson.
You must be frank, but without indiscretion; and close, but without being costive.
Lord Chesterfield.