Meanings
plural cockshuts · alternative cockshoot
- uncountableotherwise obsoleteTwilight, when poultry would be shut in for the night.
1 Fai.: Mistress, this is only spite: For you would not yesternight Kiss him in the cock-shut light.
1603, Ben Jonson, The Satyr; republished in The Works of Ben Jonson, volume 6, London: For G. and W. Nicol, et al, 1816, page 4732 more examples
Sir Richard Ratcliff: Thomas the Earl of Surrey, and himself, Much about cock-shut time, from troop to troop Went through the army, cheering up the soldiers.
1593, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Richard the Third', act 5, scene 3In the quiet cockshut after a heavy darg, a boonfellow likes to croodle with her fanger (or he with his bellibone) as they watch the sunset through the eyethurl.
2012 November, Leon Robert McNarry, “The Erendrake”, in Poems, Tales & Whimsy, Victoria, B.C.: FriesenPress, →ISBN, page 28
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Middle Englishcockshoot
- Englishcockshut
From Middle English cockshoot or a compound of cock (noun) + shut (verb).
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
cockshut. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cockshut
“cockshut.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cockshut. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cockshut,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cockshut.
Source: cockshut on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.