ˈcock-up, cockup, n. and a.
[f. cock up verbal combination: see cock v.1]
A. n.
1. A distinct turn up at the end or tip.
| 1826 Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 429 The cock-up of the nose, which seems..to be snuffing up intelligence. |
2. A hat or cap cocked or turned up in front.
| a 1693 in Sc. Presbyt. Eloquence (1738) 129, I have been this Year of God preaching against the Vanity of Women, yet I see my own Daughter in the Kirk Even now have as high a Cockup as any of you all. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxv, Your cockups and your fallal duds—see what they a' come to. |
3. A fresh-water and estuarian fish of India (Lates calcarifer). [Origin of name uncertain: see Yule.]
| 1845 Stocqueler Handbk. Brit. India (1854) 283 Cockup, crabs, lobsters, shrimps. 1854 Badham Halieut. 114 The Lates Nobilis of the erudite, somewhat freely rendered ‘cock-up-fish’ by the Bengalese. |
4. A blunder, a mistake, a confused situation. slang.
| 1948 Partridge Dict. Forces' Slang 44 He made a complete cock-up of his orders. 1959 I. Jefferies 13 Days xiii. 206 ‘I was thinking of going out to Tikvah today, sir,’ I said, and did I make a cock-up of that job. 1964 J. Porter Dover One i. 11 George turned the local boys on it and you've never seen such a cock-up in your life! |
B. adj.
1. Cocked up, turned up at the tip.
| 1832 L. Hunt Poems, To J. H. i, With cock-up nose so lightsome. |
2. Printing. Having the top much above the top line of the other letters: applied to a large type used for an initial of a book or part.
| 1838 Timperley Printer's Manual 58 The first word..is generally put in small capitals, either after a capital of its own body, or one of a larger size, called a cock-up letter. |