| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| cock1 |
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| PRONUNCIATION: |  k k |
| NOUN: | 1a. An adult male chicken; a rooster. b. An adult male of various other birds. 2. A weathervane shaped like a rooster; a weathercock. 3. A leader or chief. 4. A faucet or valve by which the flow of a liquid or gas can be regulated. 5a. The hammer of a firearm. b. The position of the hammer of a firearm when ready for firing. 6. A tilting or jaunty turn upward: the cock of a hat. 7. Vulgar Slang The penis. 8. Archaic The characteristic cry of a rooster early in the morning. | | VERB: | Inflected forms: cocked, cock·ing, cocks
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To set the hammer of (a firearm) in a position ready for firing. 2. To set (a device, such as a camera shutter) in a position ready for use. 3. To tilt or turn up or to one side, usually in a jaunty or alert manner: cocked an eyebrow in response to a silly question. 4. To raise in preparation to throw or hit: cocked the bat before swinging at the pitch. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To set the hammer of a firearm in a position ready for firing. 2. To turn or stick up. 3. To strut; swagger. | | IDIOMS: | cock a snoot (or snook) Slang To express scorn or derision by or as if by placing the thumb on the nose and wiggling the fingers; thumb one's nose: “[He] could cock a snoot at the rest of the . . . world and blithely go his own way” (Elie Kedourie).cock of the walk An overbearing or domineering person. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English cok, from Old English cocc, probably from Late Latin coccus, from coco, a cackling, of imitative origin.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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