: a flap or bag concealing an opening in the front of men's breeches especially in the 15th and 16th centuries
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the WebThere are codpiece jokes, torture jokes, Spanish Inquisition jokes that add nothing to the genre that Monty Python founded in 1971 and Donald Trump jokes. Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 13 June 2022 Aside from everyone staying a safe length away from Gene Simmons' tongue and codpiece, there was no social distancing. Chris Riemenschneider, Star Tribune, 24 Feb. 2021 There are undeniably moments, many of them wordless: a floundering Ferrell in a snow-white onesie with a homemade codpiece; a hamster-wheel stage stunt gone horrendously wrong. Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 24 June 2020 Fashions change, and the current speed demons—cars such as the Pontiac SSEi—wear their prowess like a codpiece. Martin Padgett Jr., Car and Driver, 15 June 2020 In 1941, a conservator discovered that some details had been changed; most provocatively, some men’s genitals, which Bruegel portrayed in prominent pouches called codpieces, had been painted over. Judith H. Dobrzynski, WSJ, 21 Jan. 2020 Long before there were jockstraps, codpieces scandalized the world in both art and life. Katherine J. Wu, Smithsonian, 13 Dec. 2019 At some point in the artwork’s past, a vandal scratched or scribbled lines on five of its most prominent codpieces. Katherine J. Wu, Smithsonian, 13 Dec. 2019 The 9th annual San Jose fair drew more than 3,000 fans of corsets and codpieces over the weekend. Karen D'souza, The Mercury News, 4 Aug. 2019 See More
Word History
Etymology
Middle English codpese, from cod "bag, scrotum" (going back to Old English codd, akin to Middle Dutch codde "cylindrical piece of wood," Old Frisian kudda "cudgel," Middle Low German kudde, kodde "hog," Old Norse koddi "pillow, scrotum," all from a Germanic base denoting something distended and unevenly shaped) + pesepiece entry 1