cock

English has two main words spelled cock: the male bird, with its many mechanical and slang senses, and a small pile of hay.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kɒk/ (UK); /kɑk/ (US)^[4]

cock¹ male bird; tap

Etymology

The bird is inherited from Old English cocc (“male bird”),^[1][2][5][3] of imitative origin,^[1][2][6] like Old Norse kokkr, Old French coc and Sanskrit कुक्कुट (kukkuṭa, “cock”);^[1][2] Hoad derives the Old English word from Medieval Latin coccus, reinforced by French coq.^[5] The native Germanic name survives in hen.^[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The male of the domestic fowl: about 897, in Alfred's translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care.^[1][7]

Semantic evolution

Old English cocc was a nickname for one who strutted, and in the Middle Ages a cock was a pert boy or servant, then a fellow, as in old cock (1630s).^[2][8] Technical senses, such as a tap (about 1425) and the hammer of a gun (1560s), are of uncertain connection with the bird;^[1][2] German Hahn has the same range.^[5][2] The verb, to fight (about 1150), led to the senses swagger (1575) and set or turn up jauntily (about 1600), as in cock one's ear.^[1][2] To draw back the hammer of a gun is from the 1640s, and half-cocked by 1750.^[2] The penis is a slang sense from the Middle Ages,^[6] and Green notes that it became taboo in the 19th century.^[8] A cock-and-bull story is from the 1620s.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 897 – a rooster.^[1][7]
• c. 1425 – a tap.^[1]
• 1560s – the cock of a gun.^[2]
• c. 1600 – to turn up, as an ear.^[1]
• 1620s – cock-and-bull.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An adult male chicken; a rooster.
2. The male of other birds.
3. A tap or valve controlling the flow of a liquid.
4. The hammer of a firearm, or its position when ready to fire.
5. (vulgar slang) The penis.
6. (British informal) A form of address to a man; mate.

Verb

1. To raise the hammer of a gun ready to fire.
2. To tilt or turn up: cock one's head.

Word family

• cocky
• cockerel
• cockpit
• peacock
• cocktail

cock² small heap of hay

Etymology

The haycock is of uncertain origin, probably related to dialectal German Kocke (“heap of hay or dung”) and Norwegian kok, heap.^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A cone-shaped pile of hay in a field: before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomew.^[1]

Semantic evolution

The verb, to put hay into cocks, is probably from before 1387.^[1]

Timeline

• before 1387 – to put hay into cocks.^[1]
• before 1398 – a haycock.^[1]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A small conical pile of hay in a field.

Word family

• haycock

Related words

• chicken
• hen
• cockney
• cockade

Usage notes

A further obsolete cock, a small boat, survives only in cockboat and coxswain.^[9] Green's Dictionary of Slang also records cock as a euphemism for God in oaths (about 1350).^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press