cock
Pluralcocks
Pluralcocks
- 1A vulgar word for the penis.
Some idiot had spray-painted a giant cock on the side of the bus shelter.
The comedian's whole set was jokes about his cock and his divorce.
UsagePenis is the neutral word. Many speakers use rooster for a male chicken to avoid the sexual meaning.
Note
Penis is the neutral word; this one is blunt, and it belongs to swearing, sex talk and writing that wants a rough voice, from Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash (1992) to System of a Down's Cigaro (2005). Its shadow falls across the innocent senses too, so a careful writer may choose rooster, tap or hammer where the plain meaning could be misheard.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- Neal Stephenson wrote Snow Crash, first published in 1992. jhbooks.com
- Snow Crash uses 'cock' in the penis sense. en.wiktionary.org
- Cigaro is a System of a Down song released in 2005. music.apple.com
- Cigaro uses 'cock' in the penis sense. en.wiktionary.org
- 2A male bird, especially an adult male domestic chicken; a rooster.
Every morning the cock on the neighboring farm crows long before sunrise.
The breeder kept one cock and a dozen hens in the pen behind the barn.
UsageThe female is a hen. Many speakers say rooster instead, to avoid the rude sense.
Oppositehen
Note
Behind it stands a broader meaning, the male of any bird, which is why the same word fits a male pigeon or pheasant as easily as a rooster among hens.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The ancestral Old English word also had the broader meaning 'male bird'. en.wiktionary.org
- 3To tilt or turn something, such as the head, an eye, an ear, or a hat, upward or to one side, often in a knowing, mocking, or jaunty way.
He cocked his hat over one eye and strolled into the party as if he owned the place.
Puzzled dogs often cock their heads to one side when you talk to them.
UsageCommon phrases: cock your head, cock an eyebrow, cock an ear.
- 4To raise the hammer of a gun, or set the mechanism of a crossbow, so that it is ready to fire; of a gun, to be made ready in this way.
The hunter cocked his rifle and waited for the deer to step into the clearing.
In old westerns the gunfighters cock and fire in a single smooth motion.
Note
The verb can drop its object when the weapon is obvious: in Lord Byron's The Waltz (1813) someone simply cocked, fired, and missed his man. Turned around, the gun can be the subject too, as when an old pistol will not cock.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- Lord Byron wrote The Waltz. en.wikisource.org
- The Waltz was first published in 1813. en.wikisource.org
- The poem describes someone who 'cocked, fired, and missed his man', using cocked without an object. en.wikisource.org
- Cock can also have the gun as its subject, meaning to become ready for firing. en.wiktionary.org
- 5A valve or tap that controls the flow through a pipe in a plumbing system.
Open the cock at the bottom of the tank to let the old water drain out.
The plumber replaced the leaking cock on the main gas line.
UsageToday mostly met in compounds such as stopcock and ballcock.
Less common meanings
- 6A person who is chief among others; a leader or master.
Old Harris was cock of the docks, and no crew moved a crate without his say-so.
From his first day, the new manager strutted around as if he were cock of the walk.
UsageUsually cock of the + a place or group: cock of the walk, cock of the school.
Similarboss, chief, master, king
Note
The image is the rooster lording it over the yard. Dated now, the use is usually humorous: someone is the cock of the school, the docks or the regiment, and the joke is in the strut.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- The leadership sense draws on the image of a dominant barnyard rooster. gutenberg.org
- 7A person regarded as stupid, obnoxious or contemptible.
Some cock in a BMW cut me up on the motorway and then had the nerve to beep at me.
Don't be a cock. Give him his phone back.
UsageUsually with a or some: don't be a cock, some cock cut me up; also bare in you cock.
Similaridiot, jerk, prat, dick
Note
The insult is at home in Britain, Ireland and the Commonwealth, aimed at someone the speaker finds stupid or obnoxious, and it is too rude for polite talk. The same speakers use the word as a friendly form of address, so tone does the sorting: the insult usually takes a or some (don't be a cock), though it can be bare in you cock, while the greeting uses it bare, as a name.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- The insult also occurs without an article: Mitchell reports receiving “You're not funny, you cock”. Grammar alone cannot distinguish the senses. theguardian.com
- 8The crowing of a rooster, especially its first crow early in the morning.
The knights kept their vigil in the chapel until first cock.
And here we are, half-way to Alcalá, between cocks and midnight.
1842, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Poems …UsageMostly in phrases telling the hour: at first cock, till first cock.
Similarcockcrow
Note
It lives mostly in phrases that tell the hour, above all first cock: in Walter Scott's St Ronan's Well a brother is teased for carousing till after the first cock. Longfellow even uses a plural, between cocks and midnight. Cockcrow names the same moment.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- Walter Scott wrote St Ronan's Well. gutenberg.org
- Clara teases her brother John about carousing till after the first cock. gutenberg.org
- Longfellow uses the plural phrase “between cocks and midnight”; the character speaking is Chispa in The Spanish Student. gutenberg.org
- Cockcrow names the time of the first crow. en.wiktionary.org
- 9A man or fellow, used especially as a familiar form of address.
Cheers, cock, I owe you one.
He's a decent old cock, always ready to buy you a pint.
Similarmate, pal, chap, fellow
Note
Older writing also uses it for a cheerful man, and in Thomas Frost's Paul the Poacher a traveler shares the coach with a jolly old cock who joins him in a glass of spirits every time the coach stops.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Thomas Frost wrote Paul the Poacher. en.wiktionary.org
- Older writing applies cock to a cheerful man. en.wiktionary.org
- A traveler reports sharing a coach journey with a jolly old cock. en.wiktionary.org
- Here, shed a tear means to take a dram or glass of spirits; the passage describes drinking at every stop. gutenberg.org
- 10The hammer in the trigger mechanism of a firearm.
He eased the cock forward with his thumb so the pistol would not go off.
On older muskets the cock held a piece of flint that struck sparks into the pan.
Similarhammer
Note
The part gave its name to an action: to cock a gun is, at bottom, to lift this hammer so that the weapon is set to fire. The noun names the piece, and the verb names what a thumb does to it.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- The firearm verb cock derives from the noun naming the part. whichenglish.com
- Cocking a gun involves drawing its hammer back into the position from which it can be released to fire. en.wikipedia.org
- The hammer can be cocked manually with a thumb. en.wikipedia.org
- 11A weather vane shaped like a rooster; a weathercock.
The gilded cock on the church steeple swung around to face the north wind.
From the barn roof, the rusty cock showed that the wind had shifted to the east.
Similarweathercock, weathervane, vane
- 12A small, cone-shaped pile of hay or grass.
After mowing, the crew raked the hay into cocks to dry.
A single cock of grass was still standing at the edge of the meadow.
Note
This is a different word from the farmyard bird, however alike they look: it goes back to an Old English word for a heap, known from place names, and beyond that to a root for a bulge or swelling. Farm talk has near neighbors for such field heaps in rick, stook and shock.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- Cock meaning a hay heap has a separate etymology from the bird word, traced through a reconstructed Old English heap word attested in place names to a Germanic form meaning mass, bulge or swelling. en.wiktionary.org
- Rick, stook and shock are nearby terms for agricultural heaps. en.wiktionary.org
- 13An upward turn, tilt or angle, as of a hat, the head or an eye, often a boastful or knowing one.
You could tell from the cock of his hat that he thought he had won the argument.
With a slight cock of her head, the teacher waited for a better answer.
Note
The noun is happiest with the eye: Walter Scott writes of a knowing cock of his eye, and Hawthorne, in The House of the Seven Gables, of the cock of her eye as she pries into the garden. Noses have one too: in Fraser's Magazine of 1843 a nose has lost its pretty cock and grown hooked.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- Walter Scott writes of a knowing cock of his eye. gutenberg.org
- Nathaniel Hawthorne's The House of the Seven Gables describes the cock of her eye as she pries into the garden. gutenberg.org
- Fraser's Magazine in 1843 describes a nose that had lost its pretty cock and grown hooked. en.wiktionary.org
- 14Nonsense or rubbish.
That story about the haunted pub is a load of cock, and you know it.
He talks a lot of cock about his time in the army.
UsageNo article: talk cock, a load of cock.
Similarrubbish, nonsense, rot, bollocks, tripe
Note
Nonsense in the mass takes no article: people talk cock, or an awful lot of it, as in William Golding's Pincher Martin (1956), and a claim gets dismissed as a load of cock. An older countable use is now obsolete: in Henry Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor (1851), street patterers call a made-up story they sell a cock.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- Pincher Martin is by William Golding and was first published in 1956. william-golding.co.uk
- Pincher Martin contains an example of talking an awful lot of cock. en.wiktionary.org
- Henry Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor first appeared in 1851. gutenberg.org
- Mayhew describes street patterers selling fictitious accounts called cocks, demonstrating the older countable sense. gutenberg.org
- 15A shuttlecock, the light object hit back and forth over the net in badminton.
His smash drove the cock straight into the floor on her side of the net.
The badminton club burns through a tube of feather cocks every evening.
Similarshuttlecock, shuttle, birdie
- 16A male salmon, trout, or other fish.
As spawning nears, the cock develops a hooked lower jaw and guards the hen on the gravel.
During the salmon run, the cocks turn dark red and fight over the best spawning gravel.
Note
Salmon and trout are paired like poultry: the male is the cock and the female the hen, and Roderick Sutterby and Malcolm Greenhalgh's Atlantic Salmon (2005) follows the hen as her color darkens toward spawning time. Cockfish is a longer synonym for the male.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- Male salmon and trout are called cocks and females hens. en.wiktionary.org
- Atlantic Salmon: An Illustrated Natural History credits Roderick Sutterby and Malcolm Greenhalgh, with paintings by Sutterby and words by Greenhalgh. abebooks.com
- Atlantic Salmon was first published in 2005. abebooks.com
- The book describes the hen's coloration darkening as spawning time approaches. en.wiktionary.org
- Cockfish is a synonym for a male fish, especially a salmon or trout. en.wiktionary.org
- 17To strut or swagger, putting on a big, pert, or menacing air.
Note
In this intransitive sense the verb is all posture: someone who cocks struts, swaggers and looks bigger than they are. With a hat or head as its object it means tilting a hat or head, so cocking a hat is a gesture while cocking in this sense is an attitude.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Cock has an intransitive sense meaning to strut, swagger, or look imposing. en.wiktionary.org
- 18
- 19To form something, especially hay, into piles.
The crew cocked the hay before the evening rain arrived.
Once the grass is dry, we cock it so the dew won't soak it overnight.
Note
Cocked hay is hay already gathered into those heaps, and Edmund Spenser's The Shepheardes Calender (1579) already has "under the cocked hay." The participle has nothing to do with a cocked hat or a cocked gun; it belongs with the haycock.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- Edmund Spenser wrote The Shepheardes Calender. folger.edu
- The Shepheardes Calender was first published in 1579. folger.edu
- The work contains the words "under the cocked hay." gutenberg.org
- The participle in "cocked hay" belongs to the haycock sense, distinct from the hat-tilting and firearm senses. en.wiktionary.org
- 20An altered form of the word God, used in oaths.
Note
Swearers once bent God's name out of shape, and this is one result: by cock and pie, which Shakespeare puts in a character's mouth in The Merry Wives of Windsor, is an oath by God. It is obsolete, met now only in older writing, where a reader should not look for the bird in it.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- Cock is an altered form of God used in oaths. en.wiktionary.org
- Shakespeare gives the words ‘By cock and pie’ to a character in The Merry Wives of Windsor; the speaker is Page in Act 1, scene 1. folger.edu
- ‘By cock and pie’ is an oath invoking God, with cock representing God rather than the bird. wehd.com
- 21To have sex with someone; by extension, to spoil, damage or ruin something.
- 22The vulva or the vagina.
The dog come a-trottin' and the dog come a-lopin' A purty little gal with her cock wide open.
1992, Vance Randolph, Unprintable Ozark Folksongs and Folklore: Roll me in your arms - 23The bridge piece in a clock or watch that provides a bearing for the pivot of the balance.
- 24Abbreviation of cock-boat, a type of small boat.
- 25In curling, the circle at the end of the rink.
- 26The gnomon of a sundial: the raised piece whose shadow falls across the hour lines.
- 27The pointer on a balance that shows when the beam is level.
The cock, or pointer, which makes a right angle with the beam, will stand upright when the weighing is accurate.
1833, John Holland, Treatise on the Manufactures in Metal - 28To pamper a child too much, so that it becomes spoiled.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
Proto-Germanic *kukkaz ("cock"), probably an imitation of the bird's call (onomatopoeic), passed into Proto-West Germanic as *kokk, then into Old English as coc or cocc ("cock, male bird") and Middle English as cok. Old French coc, of the same origin, reinforced it, and Middle Dutch cocke and Old Norse kokkr are relatives. The meaning "penis" is recorded from at least the 1610s, and the compound pillicock ("penis") from 1325.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 9 facts
- Proto-Germanic *kukkaz meant cock. en.wiktionary.org
- The word probably originated through imitation of the bird's call. en.wiktionary.org
- Proto-West Germanic *kokk descended from Proto-Germanic *kukkaz. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English coc or cocc, meaning cock or male bird, descended from Proto-West Germanic *kokk. en.wiktionary.org
- Middle English cok descended from Old English coc or cocc. en.wiktionary.org
- Old French coc shared the origin and reinforced the English word. en.wiktionary.org
- Middle Dutch cocke and Old Norse kokkr are cognates. en.wikipedia.org
- The penis sense is attested since at least the 1610s. en.wiktionary.org
- The compound pillicock, meaning penis, is attested by 1325. en.wiktionary.org
From Middle English cokke, cock, cok, probably from Old English *cocc (“heap, pile”, found in place names), though a Scandinavian source is also possible. Compare Norwegian kok (“heap, lump”), Swedish koka (“a lump of earth”) and dialectal German Kocke (“heap of hay, dunghill”).
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts
- The haystack sense descends from Middle English cokke, also spelled cock and cok. en.wiktionary.org
- A proposed source is Old English *cocc, meaning heap or pile and represented in place names. en.wiktionary.org
- A Scandinavian source is possible. en.wiktionary.org
- Norwegian kok means heap or lump and is related to this sense of cock. en.wiktionary.org
- Swedish koka means a lump of earth. en.wiktionary.org
- Dialectal German Kocke means heap of hay or dunghill and is related to this sense of cock. en.wiktionary.org