Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One whose occupation is the building of dry stone walls: used especially of one who has not been regularly trained in the mason's trade.
  • noun Hence One who is not a Free-Mason.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Scot. One who works as a mason without having served a regular apprenticeship.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A worker in unmortared stone; a stonemason who has not served an apprenticeship.
  • noun freemasonry A person who attempts to pass himself off as a Freemason without having experienced the rituals or going through the degrees.
  • noun slang A sneak; an inquisitive or prying person.
  • noun uninitiated, outside, “profane
  • noun Scotland, obsolete, rare A fishing-boat.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

First attested in 1722; perhaps from the Scottish Gaelic cobhan ("coffer”, “box”, “ark").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

First attested in 1598.

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Examples

Comments

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  • So are there batty conspiracies about cowans as well?

    August 4, 2022