Although the most common definition today is the female version of a cuckold, that is, a woman who is cheated on by her husband, you may also come across the original definition, one that is archaic even by Webster1913's standards: a cotquean is a coarse or scolding woman. The cot (or cote) originally referred to the small house of a poor laborer; thus, a cotquean was simply a poor man's wife. This was, unsurprisingly, used in a derogatory sense.