noun
1.
a male chicken; rooster.
2.
the male of any bird, especially of the gallinaceous kind.
3.
Also called stopcock. a hand-operated valve or faucet, especially one opened or closed by rotating a cylindrical or tapered plug having part of the passage pierced through it from side to side.
4.
5.
verb (used with object)
12.
to pull back and set the cock, or hammer, of (a firearm) preparatory to firing.
13.
to draw back in preparation for throwing or hitting: He cocked his bat and waited for the pitch.
14.
00:10
Cock
is one of our favorite verbs.
So is skedaddle. Does it mean:
| to flee; abscond: |
| to run away hurriedly; flee. |
verb (used without object)
15.
to cock the firing mechanism of a firearm.
Origin:
before 900; Middle English cock, Old English cocc; cognate with Old Norse kokkr; orig. imitative
before 900; Middle English cock, Old English cocc; cognate with Old Norse kokkr; orig. imitative
Related forms
cock·like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
verb (used with object)
1.
to set or turn up or to one side, often in an assertive, jaunty, or significant manner: He cocked his eyebrow questioningly.
verb (used without object)
2.
to stand or stick up conspicuously.
3.
Scot. and New England. to strut; swagger; put on airs of importance.
noun
Idioms 4.
the act of turning the head, a hat, etc., up or to one side in a jaunty or significant way.
5.
the position of anything thus placed.
6.
noun Chiefly Northern and North Midland U.S.
1.
a conical pile of hay, dung, etc.
verb (used with object)
2.
to pile (hay, dung, etc.) in cocks.
Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English; cognate with dialectal German Kocke heap of hay or dung, Norwegian kok heap, lump; akin to Old Norse kǫkkr lump
1350–1400; Middle English; cognate with dialectal German Kocke heap of hay or dung, Norwegian kok heap, lump; akin to Old Norse kǫkkr lump
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To cock
Collins
World English Dictionary
cock1 (kɒk) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | the male of the domestic fowl |
| 2. | a. any other male bird |
| b. the male of certain other animals, such as the lobster | |
| c. (as modifier): a cock sparrow | |
| 3. | stopcock short for weathercock |
| 4. | a taboo slang word for penis |
| 5. | a. the hammer of a firearm |
| b. its position when the firearm is ready to be discharged | |
| 6. | informal (Brit) a friend, mate, or fellow |
| 7. | a jaunty or significant tilting or turning upwards: a cock of the head |
| 8. | informal (Brit) nonsense |
| —vb (sometimes foll by up) | |
| 9. | (tr) to set the firing pin, hammer, or breech block of (a firearm) so that a pull on the trigger will release it and thus fire the weapon |
| 10. | (tr) to set the shutter mechanism of (a camera) so that the shutter can be tripped by pressing the shutter-release button |
| 11. | to raise in an alert or jaunty manner |
| 12. | (intr) to stick or stand up conspicuously |
| [Old English cocc (referring to the male fowl; the development of C15 sense spout, tap, and other transferred senses is not clear), ultimately of imitative origin; related to Old Norse kokkr, French coq, Late Latin coccus] | |
| cock2 (kɒk) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | a small, cone-shaped heap of hay, straw, etc |
| —vb | |
| 2. | (tr) to stack (hay, straw, etc) in such heaps |
| [C14 (in Old English, cocc is attested in place names): perhaps of Scandinavian origin; compare Norwegian kok, Danish dialect kok] | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
cock
O.E. cocc, O.Fr. coq, O.N. kokkr, all of echoic origin. O.E. cocc was a nickname for "one who strutted like a cock," thus a common term in the Middle Ages for a pert boy, used of scullions, apprentices, servants, etc. A common personal name till c.1500, it was affixed to Christian names as a pet diminutive,
cf. Wilcox, Hitchcock, etc. Slang sense of "penis" is attested since 1618 (but cf. pillicock "penis," from c.1300); cock-teaser is from 1891. A cocker spaniel (1823) was trained to start woodcocks. Cock-and-bull is first recorded 1621, perhaps an allusion to Aesop's fables, with their incredible talking animals, or to a particular story, now forgotten. French has parallel expression coq-à-l'âne.
cock
in various mechanical senses, such as cock of a faucet (late 15c.) is of uncertain connection with cock (n.1), but Ger. has hahn "hen" in many of the same senses. The cock of an old matchlock firearm is 1560s, hence half-cocked "with the cock lifted to the first catch, at which
position the trigger does not act."
cock
seeming contradictory senses of "to stand up" (as in cock one's ear), c.1600, and "to bend" (1898) are from the two cock nouns. The first is probably in reference to the posture of the bird's head or tail, the second to the firearm position. To cock ones hat carries the notion of "defiant boastfulness"
also in M.E. cocken (c.1150) "to fight."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary
cock definition
|
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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