cockshut

C3O1C3K5S1H4U1T1

noun

A kind of net for catching woodcock.

Scrabble 19

Meanings

nouncockshut (countable and uncountable, plural cockshuts)

plural cockshuts · alternative cockshoot

  1. countableobsoleteA kind of net for catching woodcock.
  2. 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 473
    2 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 3

    In 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

  1. Middle Englishcockshoot
  2. Englishcockshut

From Middle English cockshoot or a compound of cock (noun) + shut (verb).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

cockshut. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cockshut

MLA

“cockshut.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cockshut. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cockshut,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cockshut.

Source: cockshut on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.