half-cocked, ppl. a. and pa. pple.
[See half-cock v.]
a. Of a gun: at half-cock.
| 1809 [see cocked ppl. a.2 2]. |
b. Partly intoxicated. dial. and slang.
| c 1830 T. Wilson Pitman's Pay (1843) 54 Half-cock'd and canty, hyem we gat. 1886 W. H. Long I.O.W. Dial. 120 All on 'em was about half cocked. 1888 [see cocked ppl. a.2 2]. 1910 Dialect Notes III. vi. 453 Half-cocked,..Half drunk. |
c. to go off half-cocked: to speak or act prematurely. U.S. colloq.
| 1833 Deb. Congress U.S. 31 Jan. 1521 The gentleman from Maryland has gone off half cocked. 1877 J. Habberton Jericho Road xvi. 152 Just like you, always goin' off half-cocked. 1920 S. Lewis Main St. 349 Well—I don't suppose I ought to have gone off half-cocked, and not jollied him along. 1940 E. Pound Let. 14 Mar. (1971) 340 No use my going off half-cocked on large subjects whereon I have not yet arrived at conclusion. |
d. Incompletely prepared or realized. Also quasi-advb.
| 1946 M. Shulman Zebra Derby (1947) viii. 45 You know, we're not going into this thing half-cocked. 1953 A. Upfield Murder must Wait xxi. 186 I've a half-cocked kind of idea. |