cotter

noun

1. A pin or wedge inserted through a slot to hold machine parts together.

   “The chains are secured to each end of the cast-iron arches by cotters.”

2. (informal)A cotter pin.
3. (historical)A peasant who performed labour in exchange for the right to live in a cottage.

   “The toil-worn Cotter frae his labour goes,— / This night his weekly moil is at an end,— / Collects his spades, his mattocks, and his hoes, […]”

verb

1. (transitive)To fasten with a cotter.

   “She found Esco by the barn. He was trying to cotter a cart-wheel with a peg he had whittled from a locust branch, driving it in with a hand sledge”

name

1. (countable, uncountable)A surname.
2. (countable, uncountable)A minor city in Baxter County, Arkansas, United States.
3. (countable, uncountable)A minor city in Louisa County, Iowa, United States.