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cockshy. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
cockshy, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
cockshy in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
cockshy you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
From cock + shy; so called from an ancient popular sport which consisted in shying or throwing cudgels at live cocks.
Noun
cockshy (plural cockshies)
- A game in which trinkets are set upon sticks, to be thrown at by the players.
- An object at which stones are flung; (by extension) a person who is abused or vilified.
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: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’ […]
1870 April–September, Charles Dickens, “’What are you doing to the man?’ demands Jasper, stepping out into the moonlight from the shade.
’Making a ’’’cock-shy’’’ of him,’ replies the hideous small boy.”, in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, London: Chapman and Hall, , published 1870, →OCLC:
Verb
cockshy (third-person singular simple present cockshies, present participle cockshying, simple past and past participle cockshied)
- (transitive, intransitive) To pelt; to throw things at.