Cock

Pronunciation

• US enPR: käk, IPA: /kÉ‘k/, /kɔːk/
• Homophones: caulk some pronunciations
• UK IPA: /kÉ’k/
• Rhymes: -É’k

From Middle English cok, from Old English coc, cocc ("cock, male bird"), from Proto-Germanic *kukkaz ("cock"), probably of onomatopoeic origin. Cognate with Old Norse kokkr (). Reinforced by Old French coc, also of imitative origin.

Full definition of cock

Noun

1. A male bird, especially a domestic fowl.
2. Male chicken or other gallinaceous bird.
3. Male pigeon.
4. A valve or tap for controlling flow in plumbing.
5. The hammer of a firearm trigger mechanism.
6. The notch of an arrow or crossbow.
7. (slang, vulgar) The penis.
• 1971, William S. Burroughs, The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead, page 181
• 1991, Dennis Cooper, Frisk
• 2001, Carlton Mellick III, Satan Burger
8. (curling) The circle at the end of the rink.
9. The state of being cocked; an upward turn, tilt or angle.
10. (British, NZ, pejorative, slang) A stupid person.
11. (informal, British, Tasmania) An informal term of address.All right, cock?
12. A boastful tilt of one's head or hat
13. (informal) shuttlecock
14. A vane in the shape of a cock; a weathercock.
• ShakespeareDrenched our steeples, drowned the cocks!
15. (dated, humorous) A chief man; a leader or master.
• AddisonSir Andrew is the cock of the club, since he left us.
16. The crow of a cock, especially the first crow in the morning; cockcrow.
• ShakespeareHe begins at curfew, and walks till the first cock.
17. The style or gnomon of a sundial.
18. The indicator of a balance.
19. The bridge piece that affords a bearing for the pivot of a balance in a clock or watch.

Synonyms

• (male bird) cockbird
• (male chicken) rooster
• (valve) stopcock
• (penis) see

Derived terms

Related terms

• cockerel

Verb

1. (ambitransitive) To lift the cock of a firearm; to prepare (a gun) to be fired.
• ByronCocked, fired, and missed his man.
2. (intransitive) To be prepared to be triggered by having the cock lifted.In the darkness, the gun cocked loudly.
3. (transitive) To erect; to turn up.
• GayOur Lightfoot barks, and cocks his ears.
• Jonathan SwiftDick would cock his nose in scorn.
4. (British, transitive, slang) To copulate with.
5. (transitive) To turn or twist something upwards or to one side; to lift or tilt (e.g. headwear) boastfully.He cocked his hat jauntily.
6. (intransitive, dated) To turn (the eye) obliquely and partially close its lid, as an expression of derision or insinuation.
7. (intransitive, dated) To strut; to swagger; to look big, pert, or menacing.
8. (transitive, obsolete) To make a nestle-cock of, to pamper or spoil (of children)

Derived terms

• to cock one's ear

Interjection

1. (slang) Expression of annoyance.
• 2006, "Vamp", oh cock i should have kept with a toyota! (on newsgroup uk.rec.cars.modifications)

From Middle English cock, cok, from Old English -cocc (attested in place names.), from Old Norse kǫkkr ("lump"), from Proto-Germanic *kukkaz ("bulge, swelling"), from Proto-Indo-European *geugh- ("swelling"). Cognate with Norwegian kok ("heap, lump"), Swedish koka ("a lump of earth"), German Kocke ("heap of hay, dunghill"), Middle Low German kogge ("wide, rounded ship"), Dutch kogel ("ball"), German Kugel ("ball, globe").

Noun

1. A small conical pile of hay.''The farmhands stack the hay into cocks

Derived terms

• hay-cock

Verb

1. (transitive) To form into piles.
• SpenserUnder the cocked hay.

from Old French coque ("a type of small boat"), from child-talk coco 'egg'

Noun

1. Short for cock-boat, a type of small boat.
• ShakespeareYond tall anchoring bark appears
  Diminished to her cock; her cock, a buoy
  Almost too small for sight.

Proper noun

1. (obsolete) A corruption of the word God, used in oaths.
• ShakespeareBy cock and pie.