cockshy

C3O1C3K5S1H4Y4

noun

A game in which trinkets are set upon sticks, to be thrown at by the players.

Scrabble 21
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Meanings

nouncockshy (plural cockshies)

plural cockshies

  1. A game in which trinkets are set upon sticks, to be thrown at by the players.
  2. An object at which stones are flung; (by extension) a person who is abused or vilified.

    He had seen Tom Ricketts, of the fourth form, who used to wear a jacket and trousers so ludicrously tight, that the elder boys could not forbear using him in the quality of a butt or ‘cockshy’ […]

    1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC
verbcockshy (third-person singular simple present cockshies, present participle cockshying, simple past and past participle cockshied)

present singular third person cockshies · participle present cockshying · participle past cockshied · past cockshied

  1. ambitransitiveTo pelt; to throw things at.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
pelt

Origin

From cock + shy; so called from an ancient popular sport which consisted in shying or throwing cudgels at live cocks.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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