gamecock

Etymology

It is formed from English game + cock,^[2][3][4][5] with game in its sense of sport or amusement.^[6] The older name for the bird is fighting cock, from 1538.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A cock bred and trained for fighting: 1634, in Arthur Warwick's Spare-minutes.^[2][5] Etymonline dates the word to the 1670s,^[6] and Dictionary.com to 1670–80.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The figurative use, of a person likened to a gamecock in pugnacity or fighting spirit, is recorded from 1653,^[2] by 1727 in Etymonline's dating.^[6] Johnson (1755) defined it as "cocks bred to fight", quoting Locke: "They managed the dispute as fiercely as two gamecocks in the pit".^[4] The adjective game, plucky, ready for action (1725), probably meant at first "spirited as a gamecock".^[6] The breeds kept for the sport were later called game fowl (1742).^[2]

Timeline

• 1634 – a cock bred and trained for cockfighting.^[2][5]
• 1653 – figuratively, a pugnacious, spirited person.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A male game fowl bred and trained for cockfighting.^[5][2][4]
2. A combative, plucky person: The little gamecock of a referee stood his ground.^[5][2]

Related words

• game
• cock
• fighting cock
• cockfighting

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com