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[corn ball]{n.}, {slang}, {informal} 1. A superficially sentimental movie or musical in which the word "love" is mentioned too often; a theatrical performance that is trivially sentimental. •/That movie last night was a corn hall./ 2. A person who behaves in a superficially sentimental manner or likes performances portraying such behavior. •/Suzie can’t stand Joe; she thinks he’s a corn ball./

[corn belt]{n.} 1. The Midwest; the agricultural section of the United States where much corn is grown. •/Kansas is one of the slates that lies within the corn belt./

[corner] See: AROUND THE CORNER, CUT CORNERS, FOUR CORNERS, OUT OF THE CORNER OF ONE’S EYE.

[cost a bomb] or [an arm and a leg] {v. phr.} To be extremely expensive. •/My new house has cost us an arm and a leg and we’re almost broke./

[cotton] See: ON TOP OF THE WORLD also SITTING ON HIGH COTTON.

[cotton picking], [cotton-pickin']{adj.}, {slang}, {colloquial} Worthless, crude, common, messy. •/Keep your cotton picking hands off my flowers!/ •/You’ve got to clean up your room, son, this is a cotton-pickin' mess!/

[couch case]{n.}, {slang}, {informal} A person judged emotionally so disturbed that people think he ought to see a psychiatrist (who, habitually, make their patients lie down on a couch). •/Joe’s divorce messed him up so badly that he became a couch case./

[couch doctor]{n.}, {slang}, {colloquial} A psychoanalyst who puts his patients on a couch following the practice established by Sigmund Freud. •/I didn’t know your husband was a couch doctor, I thought he was a gynecologist!/

[couch potato]{n.} A person who is addicted to watching television all day. •/Poor Ted has become such a couch potato that we can’t persuade him to do anything./

[cough up]{v.}, {slang} 1. To give (money) unwillingly; pay with an effort. •/Her husband coughed up the money for the party with a good deal of grumbling./ 2. To tell what was secret; make known. •/He coughed up the whole story for the police./

[couldn’t care less]{v. phr.}, {informal} To be indifferent; not care at all. •/The students couldn’t care less about the band; they talk all through the concert./ Also heard increasingly as "could care less" (nonstandard in this form.)

[counsel] See: KEEP ONE’S OWN COUNSEL.

[count] See: STAND UP AND BE COUNTED.

[countdown]{n.}. {Space English}, {informal} 1. A step-by-step process which leads to the launching of a rocket. •/Countdown starts at 23:00 hours tomorrow night and continues for 24 hours./ 2. Process of counting inversely during the acts leading to a launch; liftoff occurs at zero. 3. The time immediately preceding an important undertaking, borrowed from Space English. •/We’re leaving for Hawaii tomorrow afternoon; this is countdown time for us./

[counter] See: UNDER THE COUNTER.

[count heads] or [count noses] {v. phr.}, {informal} To count the number of people in a group. •/On the class picnic, we counted heads before we left and when we arrived to be sure that no one got lost./ •/The usher was told to look out into the audience and count noses./