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▪ I. ˈcocky, n.1 Also cockie. [f. cock n.1 + -y.] Diminutive of cock n.1 (Formerly a term of endearment: cf. F. coco, app. for cocot dim. of coq.)
1687Congreve Old Bach. iv. iv, Nay, look you now, if she does not weep; 'tis the fondest fool! Nay, cocky, cocky; nay dear cocky, don't cry, I was but in jest. 1789Burns Ep. Dr. Blacklock, Gratefully my guid auld cockie, I'm yours for ay. ▪ II. cocky, n.2|ˈkɒkɪ| Also cockey, cockie. [abbreviation of cockatoo.] 1. Pet name for a cockatoo.
1889Boys' Own Paper 7 Dec. 158/1 Cocky allowed every member of the family to scratch his dusty poll. Ibid. 14 Dec. 163/3 The cockatoo..saying..‘Give poor old cockie a bit of bread!’ 2. a. Applied to a ‘cockatoo farmer’ in Australia and New Zealand. Also fig. Cf. cow-cocky.
1887Sala Illust. Lond. News 12 Mar. 382/2. 1891 in Williams & Reeves Double Harness 34, I made a little poem on the cockey and the squatter. 1900H. Lawson On Track 75 He..sold the crop standing to a Cockie who lived ten miles away. 1911‘Kiwi’ On Swag iii. 8 Squatters came up in their buggies and waggonnettes, ‘cockies’ in their spring traps. 1928‘Brent of Bin Bin’ Up Country xiii. 218 There was no lack in the orchestral department, but Rab was the boss cocky of it. 1933L. G. D. Acland in Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) 30 Sept. 15/7 Cockatoo. Now usually abbreviated to cocky. An agricultural farmer, a small farmer, as opposed to a squatter or sheep farmer. 1952J. Cleary Sundowners 9 You think the cockies have an easy time of it? 1960B. Crump Good Keen Man 82 The cocky had a sheep-run in the foothills of the Coromandel Ranges. b. attrib. and Comb. cocky's joy slang, treacle, golden syrup.
1899H. Lawson in Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Feb. 35/1 It is with the farmer or ‘cockie’ class that the writer is here chiefly concerned. 1910C. E. W. Bean On Wool Track v. 64 Cocky's joy is golden syrup in 2-lb. tins, costing seven-pence. 1911E. M. Clowes On the Wallaby vi. 157 The young teacher boards out with some neighbouring ‘cocky’ farmer and his wife. 1930V. Palmer Passage iii. vi. 257 These cockie farmers think any man that handles their fruit and butter is a machine they've bought and paid for. 1934T. Wood Cobbers 140 The Peninsula is the home for cocky-farmers, men who work a few hundred acres apiece. 1936‘R. Hyde’ Passport to Hell ii. 51 If one of the ‘cocky’ specials fell among strangers..he might be wary of the boots that would as soon kick in a strike-breaker's head as not. 1947D. M. Davin Gorse blooms Pale 194 ‘Go easy on that Cocky's Joy.’..Shorty went on spreading the Golden Syrup. Hence ˈcocky v. intr., to follow the occupation of a ‘cocky’; to farm; cf. cow-cockying.
1941K. Tennant Battlers v. 52 A job ‘cockying’ for one of her uncles or cousins would come to nothing again. ▪ III. cocky, a.|ˈkɒkɪ| [f. cock n.1 + -y1.] †1. Lecherous. Obs.
1549Thomas Hist. Italie 127 b, He was not cockie enough to satisfie hir appetite. 2. ‘Vain, affecting airs of importance’ (Jam.); conceited; arrogantly pert. colloq. (Cf. cocksy.)
1768Ross Helenore 150 (Jam.) And now I think I may be cocky, Since fortune has smurtled on me. 1846J. B. Morris Let. in M. Pattison Memoirs 222 People say that converts are ‘cocky’. 1858R. S. Surtees Ask Mamma xxv. 95 This might have been all very well..if the cocky Major had had plenty of money. 1863Kingsley Waterbab. iii, He looked the cockiest little man of all little men. |