CORDON. In fortification, the horizontal moulding of masonry along the top of the true escarp. Also, sometimes used for lines of circumvallation or blockade, or any connected chain of troops or even sentries. Also, the riband of an order of knighthood or honour, and hence used by the French as signifying a member thereof, as Cordon bleu, Knight of the order of the Holy Ghost, &c. CORDOVAN. Leather made from seal-skin; the term is derived from the superior leather prepared at Cordova in Spain. CORDUROY. Applied to roads formed in new settlements, of trees laid roughly on sleepers transverse to the direction of the road; as suddenly for artillery. CORKIR, OR CUDBEAR. The _Lecanora tartarea_, a lichen producing a purple dye, growing on the stones of the Western Isles, and in Norway. CORMORANT. A well-known sea-bird (_Phalacrocorax carbo_) of the family _Pelecanidæ_. CORN, TO. A remainder of the Anglo-Saxon _ge-cyrned_, salted. To preserve meat for a time by salting it slightly. CORNED. Slightly intoxicated. In Chaucer's _Canterbury Tales_, mention is made of "corny ale." CORNED POWDER. Powder granulated from the mill-cakes and sifted. CORNET. A commissioned officer who carries the colours belonging to a cavalry troop, equivalent to an ensign in the infantry; the junior subaltern rank in the horse. CORNISH RING. The astragal of the muzzle or neck of a gun; it is the next ring from the mouth backwards. (Now disused.) CORN-SALAD. A species of Valerianella. The top-leaves are used for salad, a good anti-scorbutic with vinegar. CORNS OF POWDER. The small grains that gunpowder consists of. The powder reduced for fire-works, quill-tubes, &c.; sometimes by alcohol. COROMONTINES. A peculiar race of negroes, brought from the interior of Africa, and sold; but so ferocious as to be greatly dreaded in the West Indies. CORONA. In timber, consists of rows of microscopic cylinders, situated between the wood and the pith; it is that part from which all the branches take their rise, and from it all the wood-threads grow.--_Corona_ astronomically means the luminous ring or glory which surrounds the sun or moon during an eclipse, or the intervention of a thin cloud. They are generally faintly coloured at their edges. Frequently when there is a halo encircling the moon, there is a small corona more immediately around it. Coronæ, as well as halos, have been observed to prognosticate rain, hail, or snow, being the result of snow or dense vapours nearer the earth, through which the object becomes hazy. CORONER. An important officer. Seamen should understand that his duties embrace all acts within a line drawn from one headland to another; or within the body of the county. His duty is to investigate, on the part of the crown, all accidents, deaths, wrecks, &c.; and his warrant is not to be contemned or avoided. COROUSE. The ancient weapon invented by Duilius for boarding. An attempt was made in 1798 to re-introduce it in French privateers.