nestle-cock

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word nestle-cock. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word nestle-cock, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say nestle-cock in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word nestle-cock you have here. The definition of the word nestle-cock will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofnestle-cock, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
See also: nestlecock

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From nestle +‎ cock. Compare nest-cock & nest-cockle.

Noun

nestle-cock (plural nestle-cocks)

  1. (UK, dialectal) The last-hatched chick of a brood, the weakling of a brood.
  2. (UK, dialectal, by extension) A mama's boy, a delicate child; a spoiled brat.
    • c. 1621, Thomas Middleton, John Webster, Anything for a Quiet Life, act 4, scene 1:
      Indeed, my mother was wont to call me your Nestle-cock, and I love you as well as she did.
    • 1662, Thomas Fuller, “Worthies of London”, in The History of the Worthies of England, volume 2, London: Thomas Tegg, published 1840, page 342:
      I meet with a double sense of this word Cockney: some taking it for, 1. One coaks'd or cocker'd (made a wanton or nestlecock of, delicately bred and brought up), so that when grown men or women they can endure no hardship, nor comport with pains-taking. 2. One utterly ignorant of husbandry or housewifery […]
    • 1986, Patrick O'Brian, The Reverse of the Medal, page 161:
      You ignorant incompetent whey-faced nestlecock.

Synonyms

References

  • Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed. "nestle-cock, n.". Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2003.
Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia