cocky

comparative cockier · superlative cockiest · alternative cockey · alternative cockie

1. Overly confident; arrogant and boastful.

   Hodges has made a great fool of himself, by getting gradually cockier and cockier.

   1881 November 29, Ernest Mason Satow, “[Letter to William George Aston]”, in Ian Ruxton, editor, Sir Ernest Satow’s Private Letters to W. G. Aston and F. V. Dickins: The Correspondence of a Pioneer Japanologist from 1870 to 1918: […], [Morrisville, N.C.]: Lulu Press, published 5 February 2008, →ISBN, page 66

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   And now I think I may be cocky, / Since fortune has ſmurtl'd on me, / I'm Jenny, an' ye ſhall be Jockie, / 'Tis right we together ſud be; [...]

   1794, Alexander Ross; [Joseph Ritson, compiler], “Song XXVII. What Ails the Lasses at Me. […] [Billet by Jeany Gradden.]”, in Scotish Songs. In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for J[oseph] Johnson, […]; and J. Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 246

   Pretty girls, indeed, can with impunity, menace their lovers with quitting them; but cocky Waithman, will, if he try it often, soon find, that he cannot play such tricks without having to repent of it.

   1819 November 13, W[illia]m Cobbett, “To Henry Hunt, Esq.”, in Cobbett’s Weekly Political Register, volume 35, number 12, London: Printed and sold by William Benbow, […], →OCLC, column 376

   You are a cockie chap to go again a man axing where and what you 'a been when you are axing a place, [...]

   1876, [Sarah Tytler, pseudonym of Henrietta Keddie], “What She Came Through”, in Donald McLeod, editor, Good Words, volume XVII, London: Daldy, Isbister & Co. […], →OCLC, chapter XII (A New Day’s-Man at the Manor), page 250

   I wasn't the least bit proud. I dare say I was one of the least cocky creatures in existence these days.

   1996, Knut Hamsun, translated by Sverre Lyngstad, Hunger, Edinburgh: Canongate Books, →ISBN; republished Edinburgh: Canongate Books, 2016, →ISBN

   When Yvette came out of the bathroom, I said baby turn on the cd player. For what the only singing you gonna hear is your own when I get up in you. She's getting cockey I thought.

   2008, V. Montrell Jones, The Grass is Bluer on the Other Side, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 75

   Synonyms: airy, arrogant, chesty, authoritarian, biggity, big-headed, blustery, turgescent

plural cockies · alternative cockey · alternative cockie

1. IrelandNewfoundlandUKcolloquialdatedUsed as a term of endearment, originally for a person of either sex, but later primarily for a man.

   Nay Cocky, Cocky, nay dear Cocky, do not cry, I was but in Jeſt, I was not ifeck [in faith?].

   1693, Will[iam] Congreve, The Old Batchelour, a Comedy. […], London: […] Peter Buck, […], →OCLC, Act IV, scene i, page 31

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   Lu[cretia]. Ah, ah, are we not by our ſelves already, my Cocky? So[phronius]. Let us go out of the Way ſomewhere, into a more private Place.

   1725, Desiderius Erasmus, “The Young Man and the Harlot”, in N[athan] Bailey, transl., All the Familiar Colloquies of Desiderius Erasmus, of Roterdam, Concerning Men, Manners, and Things, Translated into English, London: Printed for J. Darby, […], →OCLC, page 196

   Now, cocky, ye may gang about your buſineſs; when ye come back, I'ſe tauk with you in another ſtile.

   1757, [Tobias Smollett], The Reprisal: Or, The Tars of Old England. […], London: […] R[oberts] Baldwin, […], →OCLC, Act II, scene ix, page 41

   Hobhouse's insolence to Mr. Hunt is not seen in its true light, unless we remember, that the latter is held under heavy recognizances to keep the peace! The little cocky seems to have been half mad; and well he might.

   1825 April 2, “To the Freeholders of Ireland. Letter II.”, in William Cobbett, editor, Cobbett’s Weekly Register, volume LIV, number 1, London: Printed and published by C. Clement, […], →OCLC, column 22

   "Go on board that little cockleshell of yourn?"—pointing to the splendid yacht—"not if I knows it, my cockeys! This old oss is spry to when he is well off—so make tracks and be off, before you gits this old coon's dander up.

   1870 July, “Old Calabar” [pseudonym], “A Sporting Story”, in Baily’s Monthly Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, and Turf Guide, volume XVIII, number 125, London: A. H. Baily & Co., […], →OCLC, chapter VI (Mr. Bouncer Brag Composes), page 306

   They're not going to stand for a couple of actors bossing the place [The Old Vic theatre] around any more. We shall be out, old cockie.

   1940s, Francis Beckett, quoting Ralph Richardson speaking to Laurence Olivier, “The War and the Old Vic”, in Laurence Olivier, London: Haus Publishing, published 2005, →ISBN, page 72

plural cockies · alternative cockey · alternative cockie

1. AustraliaNew ZealandinformalA familiar name for a cockatoo.

   He smacked his lips a couple of times and grimaced. God, his mouth tastled like the bottom of a cockie’s cage. Probably smelt as appealing too.

   2011, Barry Simiana, chapter 15, in A Touch of Evil, [Morrisville, N.C.?]: Nitewriter Media, →ISBN, page 131

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   By that time, the white cockatoo—a beautiful bird, as large as a common fowl—would find out the family gathering-place, and waddle along, calling 'Pretty Cocky! Pretty Cocky!' […] Presently, Cocky ruffles his plumage till he looks half as large again as before; he throws his crest, with its double fan of brilliantly yellow feathers, as far forward as possible, and spreads and closes it rapidly.

   1868 October, M. G. Sleeper, “Pets and Sports in Tasmania”, in Merry’s Museum, for Boys and Girls, volume 1 (New Series), number 10, Boston, Mass.: Horace B. Fuller, publisher, […], published 1869, →OCLC, page 399

   "Hello Cocky! What yer want?" This in a more-than-human voice from a fine sulphur-crested cockatoo. "Hello Cocky!" His thick black tongue worked in his narrow mouth. So absolutely human the sound, and yet a bird's.

   1923, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Willie Struthers and Kangaroo”, in Kangaroo, London: Martin Secker […], →OCLC, page 229

   Visit the local store at Coles Bay and you're greeted by a talking cocky called Jim. […] [A]s we bid farewell to this environmental showpiece, Jim the talking cocky is again the centre of attention …

   2005 August 5, Tim Jeanes, “Town Seeks Environmental Accreditation”, in The World Today, Australian Broadcasting Commission, archived from the original on 01 Oct 2017

   One afternoon a flock of glossy black cockatoos alights on a cluster of she-oaks in the western corner of the yard where they screech in ear-splitting decibels until dusk. […] [H]e tells her that the arrival of black cockies is a portent of rain. But the rain doesn't come.

   2008, Amanda Lohrey, Vertigo: A Novella, Melbourne, Vic.: Black Inc., Schwartz Publishing, →ISBN; Vertigo: A Pastoral, 2nd edition, Melbourne, Vic.: Black Inc., Schwartz Publishing, 2009, →ISBN, pages 57–58

   Next comes the rosellas and the cockatoos and the rest of the local parrots. Their singing is much heartier, and they begin to drown out their cousins. Finally Kate can hear a galah, his deep-throated song is interrupted by the cockies, but he is persistent in his welcome to the day.

   2012, Samantha Carter, “Hard Won Rewards”, in All Secrets Told, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 61

2. AustraliaNew ZealandabbreviationalsoattributiveclippinginformalClipping of cockatoo farmer (“small-scale farmer”); (by extension) any farmer or owner of rural land.

   We camped one evening at Narrangidgery Creek, close b’ a cocky’s ’umstead.

   1907, Barbara Baynton, chapter 2, in Human Toll, London: Duckworth & Co., →OCLC; republished as Human Toll (eBook; no. 0607531h.html), [Australia]: Project Gutenberg Australia, September 2006, archived from the original on 13 Sep 2018

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   'I'll get down among the cockies along the Lachlan or some of those rivers,' said Mitchell, throwing down his swag beneath a big tree. 'A man stands a better show down there. [...] One cocky I worked for wanted me to stay with him for good. Sorry I didn't. [...']

   1896, Henry Lawson, “Another of Mitchell’s Plans for the Future”, in While the Billy Boils, Sydney, N.S.W.: Angus and Robertson […], →OCLC, page 110

   Burrawong was one of the larger stations in which much of the good land of the district was locked. The cockies usually had to follow the main road, but since the drought the owners had opened one of their permanent water-holes so that the poorer settlers could cart water to their homesteads.

   1946, Miles Franklin, “Back on the Land”, in My Career Goes Bung: Purporting to be the Autobiography of Sybella Penelope Melvyn, Melbourne, Vic.: Georgian House, →OCLC; republished as My Career Goes Bung (eBook; 0900281h.html), [Australia]: Project Gutenberg Australia, March 2015, archived from the original on 12 Sep 2018

   That chap could be one of them. Or it could be the local butcher or newsagent, or cow cockie. We don't know. We've got to keep going.

   2001, Peter Doyle, The Devil’s Jump, Milsons Point, N.S.W.: Arrow/Random House, →ISBN; The Devil’s Jump (A Dark Passage Book), 1st American edition, Portland, Or.: Verse Chorus Press, 2008, →ISBN, page 255

   And stories in the bush may not seem relevant in the big smoke, but try telling that to a cocky.

   2001 November 19, Shelley Horton, “Media Dimensions: Episode 15”, in Australian Broadcasting Commission, archived from the original on 17 Nov 2007

   Now—well, Moura was scarcely Drinkwater, but it was more than just a cocky farm too.

   2010, Jackie French, A Waltz for Matilda (Matilda Saga; 1), Pymble, N.S.W.: Angus & Robertson, →ISBN

   Synonyms: cockatoo, crofter

present singular third person cockies · participle present cockying · participle past cockied · past cockied · alternative cockey

1. AustraliaNew ZealandhistoricalinformalintransitiveTo operate a small-scale farm.

   [B]oys these days haven't got the guts to go cockying.

   1946, Alan J[udge] Holt, Wheat Farms of Victoria: A Sociological Survey, [Melbourne, Vic.]: School of Agriculture, University of Melbourne, →OCLC, page 150

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   But if we are bigger built than you blokes, I suppose it's 'coz we—most of us—live away from big cities, and everybody goes in for sport an' all that; plenty of ridin' an' walkin' an' swimmin' and football an' hard work. Most of us are off the land, cockeying, and the blokes who come from the cities, Sydney and places like that, they all go in for surfing an' all kinds of sport.

   1919, C. Hampton Thorp, “About Various Things”, in A Handful of Ausseys, London: John Lane, The Bodley Head; New York, N.Y.: John Lane Company, →OCLC, page 116

   I remained about a year, cockying, clearing land, and herd-recording as a servant of the Department of Agriculture.

   1939 October, J[ohn] W[illiam] Robertson Scott, editor, The Countryman: An Illustrated Review & Miscellany of Rural Life and Work, volume XX, Idbury; Kingham, Oxfordshire: J. W. Robertson Scott, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 528

   When we arrived in Sydney, we were herded together, and a mob of cockies had their pick of us as cheap pommy labor. As assisted migrants, we were more or less doomed to work in cocky country, because bush workers generally don't much like cockying.

   1969 December, A[lbert] L[ancaster] Lloyd; Mark Gregory, interviewer, Overland, Footscray, Vic.: O. L. Society, published 1970, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 17, column 1

   Perhaps I ought to try getting a job somewhere cockeying. But I was against this. I was after Hanabeke and, as far as I could work out, Womboolah was the most likely place for him to be.

   1983, Dudley St. John Magnus, Hanabeke, London: Angus & Robertson, →ISBN, page 43

   Synonyms: cockatoo