Heading
work. York, London, Perugia, were, according to Harman, all nests of cockneys. (3) By about 1600 the name began to be attached especially to Londoners, as the representatives par excellence of the city milksop. One understands the disgust with which a cavalier in 1641 wrote that he was 'obliged to quit Oxford at the approach of Essex and Waller, with their prodigious number of cockneys.']
1607. Dekker, Westward Ho, Act ii., Sc. 2. As Frenchmen love to be bold . . . and Irishmen to be costermongers, so cockneys, especially she-cockneys, love not aqua-vitæ when 'tis good for them.
1760. Foote, Minor, Act i. But you cockneys now beat us suburbians at our own weapons.
1840. Thackeray, Paris Sketch Book, p. 28. 'You 'ad such an 'eadach', sir,' said British, sternly, who piques himself on his grammar and pronunciation, and scorns a cockney.
1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 6 Nov., p. 3, col. 2. London mist, when turned into London black fog by the poisonous carbonic anhydride and sulphurous anhydride with which it is loaded, encompasses all cockneys, good or bad with a real danger to health and life.
Cockney-Shire, subs. (common).—London.
[From cockney,
a native of London, + shire.]
Cock Pimp, subs. (old).—The husband,
real or supposed, of a
bawd or procuress. [From cock,
male, + pimp, a procurer.]—Grose
[1785].
Cockquean, subs. (obsolete).—A
man who interests himself in
women's affairs. The common
form is 'cotquean.' Cf., Molly.
Cockroaches. To get or eat
cockroaches, verbal phr. (old).—To
practise masturbation. For
synonyms, see Frig.
Cock-Robin, subs. (old).—A soft,
easy fellow.—Grose [1785].
Cock-Robin Shop, subs. phr. (printers').—A
small printing office,
for cheap work done at vile wages.
In other trades a slop shop.
1888. R. R., in Notes and Queries, 7 S., v., 333. Let me advise collectors of such things [cheap books] to avoid the regular booksellers, and try the cock-robin shops, and the general dealers in small wares, down back streets.
Cocks, subs. (popular).—1. See
Cock, subs., sense 2.
2. (trade).—Explained by quotation. The word appears to be slang for anything fictitious. Cf., Cocks, subs., sense 2.
1880. Daily News, Nov. 4. [Quoted in N. and Q., 6 S., ii., p. 387.]
3. (Charterhouse).—A lavatory where changing for games, washing before meals, etc., goes on. [From the taps over the basins.] It is equivalent to the Winchester Moab (q.v.).
Cock's Egg. To give one a
cock's egg, phr. (common).—To
send one on a fool's errand;
to gammon (q.v. for synonyms).
The expression is of the same
type as 'to send one to buy
pigeon's milk,' 'oil of strappum,'
'strap oil,' etc
Cock-Shy, subs. (popular).—A
mark, butt, or target; any person
or thing that is the centre
of jaculation.
c. 1834. Marryat, Rattlin the Reefer, p. 92. What a fine cockshy he would make, said Master Blubberlips.
18(?) Lord Strangford, Letters and Papers, p. 215. This was as if the great geologists . . . had invited two rival theorists to settle the question of a
