corking, ppl. a. Chiefly U.S.
(ˈkɔːkɪŋ)
[After corker 2 b.]
Unusually fine, large, or excellent; stunning. Also adv.
| 1895 Outing (U.S.) XXVII. 193/2 Corking great fences the Vale doubles are. a 1900 C. Hoyt Trip to Chinatown in 5 Plays (1941) ii. p. 120 A corking supper, my boy! Nothing's too good! 1902 Munsey's Mag. Mar. 810 A good show.. and a corking good show at that. 1909 Daily Chron. 4 Mar. 4/4 In a phrase that is already classic, but not yet classical, he [sc. T. Roosevelt] announced not long ago that he had had ‘a perfectly corking time’. 1911 ‘A. Hope’ Mrs. Maxon Protests xxix. 337 It turns out to be a perfectly corking house—a jewel of a house, Stephen! 1919 Wodehouse Damsel in Distress x. 127 There's nobody I think a more corking sportsman than Maud. 1926 Ladies' Home Jrnl. Dec. 36 He..engaged me, at a corking fee, to come up and take this case. 1937 N. Marsh Vintage Murder vii. 73 He's got a corking sort of laugh. |
Hence ˈcorkingly adv.
| 1917 Wodehouse Uneasy Money xv. 169, I saw a most corkingly pretty girl bicycling down to the village one morning. 1945 T. Rattigan Love in Idleness 1, I'm sure you two are going to get on—quite corkingly. |