▪ I. † ˈcocker, n.1 Obs. or dial.
Forms: 1 cocer, cocur, 3 koker, 4 cokre, 4–6 coker, 5 cocur, cokyr, 6 cokar, (8–9 dial. cogger), 6– cocker.
[A common WGer. n.: with OE. cocer m. quiver, cf. OFris. koker, OS. cocâre m. (MDu. cōker, MLG., Du. kōker, LG. köker, käker, kaker), OHG. chohhar, chohhâri (MHG. kocher, kochæ̂re, Ger. köcher) all meaning ‘quiver, case’. The ulterior derivation is obscure: med.L. cucurum, and med.Gr. κούκουρον, are, according to Diez, from German. See also quiver.]
1. A case for arrows; a quiver.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter x. 2 Gearwadon strelas heara in cocere. c 1000 ælfric Gen. xxvii. 3 Nim þin ᵹesceot þinne cocur and þinne boᵹan and gang ut. c 1205 Lay. 6470 Ene koker fulne flan. |
2. A casing for the leg; applied, at various times, to a kind of legging, a high laced boot, or a combination of boot and legging, worn by husbandmen, hunters, fishers, etc., to protect the legs. The word is still used in the north for gaiters or leggings, and even for coarse stockings without feet used as gaiters (called in Scotland loags).
| c 1325 E. E. Allit. P. B. 40 With rent cokrez at þe kne & his clutte trasches. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 56 [Piers going out to sow] caste on his cloþes I-clouted and I-hole, His Cokeres and his Coffus. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 1167 Bootes, cocurs, myttens..For husbondes & hunters. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 84 Cocur, boote, ocrea, coturnus. 1515 Barclay Egloges iv. (1570) C iv/1 Thy hose and cokers be broken at the knee. 1593 Drayton Eclogues iv. 177 His Cockers were of Cordiwin. 1681 Lond. Gaz. No. 1895/4 A pretty big chubbed Man..a pair of Leathern Cockers. 1695 Kennett Par. Antiq. Gloss. s.v. Cock-boat, Fishermen's great boots, with which they wade into the sea, are called cokers. 1811 Willan W. Riding Yorksh. Gloss., Coggers, half-boots made of stiff-leather, strong cloth, or even of worsted, buttoned at the side, and strapped under the shoe. 1873 Harland Swaledale Gloss., Coggers, a pair of old stocking-legs worn over the shoes to keep out the snow. |
▪ II. cocker, n.2
(ˈkɒkə(r))
[f. cock v.1 + -er.]
† 1. A fighter, prizefighter; a contentious, quarrelsome man; a wrangler. Obs.
| c 1275 Prov. Alfred 704 in O.E. Misc. 138 He is cocker, þef, & horeling. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 173 A newe batayle of foure and seventy comoun fyȝters and cokkers [gladiatorum]. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 242 Thise cokkers and thise bollars, And alle purs cuttars. |
2. A supporter or patron of cock-fighting, a cock-fighter; one who breeds or trains game-cocks.
| 1689 Shadwell Bury F. i. Wks. 1720 IV. 130, I..out⁓vapour'd all the Jockeys, and cockers. 1723 Steele Consc. Lovers iv. ii, He was the greatest cocker in England. He said Duke John won him many battles, but never lost him one. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. i. Wks. 1834 II. 151 Here his poor bird th' inhuman Cocker brings, Arms his hard heel and clips his golden wings. 1814 W. Sketchley (title), The Cocker, containing information to the Breeders and Amateurs of the Game-cock. 1829 A. W. Fonblanque Eng. under Seven Admin. (1837) I. 321 While Duchesses and Ladies hawk, we cannot expend all indignation on the cockers and bull-baiters. |
3. A breed of spaniels trained to start woodcocks, snipes, and similar game; a cocking dog.
| a 1811 M. Fleming Jrnl. (1934) II. 58 Yesterday I am very glad to say a young Cocker came to our house to stay. 1823 Lockhart Reg. Dalton v. v. (1842) 321 Frederick Chisney entered, attended by a couple of small sleek cockers. 1855 Kingsley Westw. Ho (1861) 81 His cockers coiled themselves up close to the warm peat-ashes. |
▪ III. cocker, n.3, coker
[app. f. cock v.3 + -er.]
Originally, one who puts hay in cocks, a hay-worker; also, later, a harvest-labourer. (The spelling coker has given rise to the unhistorical conjecture, that the original meaning was ‘a charcoal maker who comes out at harvest-time’.)
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. vi. 13 Canstow..coke for my cokers [v.r. cokares, cokerus] oþer to þe cart picche, Mowe oþer mowen oþer make bond to sheues? 1483 Cath. Angl. 70 Coker, autumpnarius. 1572 Act 14 Eliz. c. 5 §11 Bee y{supt} also provided, That this Acte nor any thinge therein conteyned do in any wyse extend to any cokers or Harvest Folkes. [So orig. act in Parl{supt} Office; the Inrolment in Chancery has Cockers.] 1832 H. Martineau Hill & Valley ii. 25 He called to Briggs, one of the cokers. 1847–78 Halliwell, Coker, a reaper. Warw. 1882 Lancash. Gloss. (E.D.S.), Quocker, one who goes harvesting to a distance. 1888 S. O. Addy Sheffield Gloss. Addenda, Cocker, the man who cocks or coils up hay in a field. |
▪ IV. † ˈcocker, n.4 Obs. rare.
A curl or ringlet. Cf. cockle n.4
| c 1620 Z. Boyd Zion's Flowers (1855) 89 That..She curious curle the cockers of her head. |
▪ V. cocker, n.6 slang and dial.
[cf. cock n.1 8.]
Used as a form of address to a person.
| 1888 H. Evans Brighton Beach Loafer vi. 35 ‘Ime on, my cocker,’ I ses. ‘Guv us yer and orn it my pippin, an arf a quid on account.’ 1942 Horizon Aug. 114 You don't want to do that, cocker. 1960 A. Wesker Talking about Jerus. iii. ii. 214 It was good of you to help us cocker. |
▪ VI. cocker, v.1
(ˈkɒkə(r))
Also 5–6 coker, 6 koker, cokker.
[Found only since 15th c.; origin obscure. Cf. however the 16th c. equivalent cockle v.3, which is identical in form and sense with a 16th c. Du. kokelen, keukelen ‘nutrire sive fovere culina’ (Kilian), i.e. to nourish or foster in the kitchen; but it is doubtful whether the Du. word was connected with kokene ‘kitchen’ exc. by ‘popular etymology’. Cf. also obs. F. coqueliner (un enfant) to dandle, cocker, pamper, a child (Cotgr.). The Eng. cocker and cockle have the form of iterative diminutives of cock v.5, and the whole were prob. derivatives of cock n.1, with the notion ‘to make a nestle-cock, chick (L. pullus), or darling of’. Cf. etymological note to cockney.
Some have thought this word identical with the next (which has also a variant cockle); but nothing has been found to support this suggestion. (Welsh cocr, and cocreth given in Llwyd 215 a, are from Eng.)]
trans. To indulge or pamper (a child, favourite, etc.); to treat with excessive tenderness or care.
| 1499 Pynson Promp. Parv., Cokeryn, carifoveo. 1530 Palsgr. 488/2, I coker, or cherysshe to moche. Je mignotte. This boye canne never thrive, he is cokered so moche. I coker, I bring up with daynty meates. Jaffriande. 1550 Nicolls Thucyd. 65 (R.) Taking it for shame so much to cocker themself. 1600 Heywood 2nd Pt. Edw. IV, Wks. 1874 I. 151 Kist and cokerd by a King. 1611 Bible Ecclus. xxx. 9 Cocker thy childe, and hee shall make thee afraid. 1611 J. Hull St. Peter's Proph. 363 No creatures more cocker their young than the Asse and the Ape. 1682 Shadwell Lanc. Witches i. (1720) III. 230 Because thy foolish mother has cocker'd thee with morning caudles. 1867 Carlyle Remin. II. 116 Some old valetudinarian..continually cockering himself, and suffering. |
b. With up, meaning (a) To bring up indulgently and luxuriously; (b) to coddle up (an invalid) so as to restore him to strength; (c) to encourage or hearten by kindness or coaxing.
| 1530 Palsgr. 488/2 Coker hym up thus in his youthe, and you shall have a fayre caulfe of hym shortly. 1605 B. Jonson Volpone i. i, But cocker vp my genius, and liue free To all delights. 1761 Gray Let. in Poems (1775) 293 Being cockered and spirited up by some friends I got my name suggested to Lord Bute. 1850 Kingsley Alt. Locke viii. (1879) 98 If she was a lady she'd be cockered up with all sorts of soups and jellies. 1859 Darwin in Life & Lett. (1887) II. 229 You have cockered me up to that extent, that I now feel, etc. |
c. To indulge or humour in (a practice, etc.).
| 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. i. 1 How careleslye they cocker themselves in their sins. 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus i. 6 (1619) 119 By mild reproofes they rather cocker and beare them in their sinnes, then correct them. 1706 Collier Refl. Ridic. 299 Cherishes and cockers them in so gentle an Errour. 1823 Scott Quentin D. xiii, I have not been cockered in wantonness or indulgence. |
d. fig. To foster, indulge (an appetite, idea, hope, evil, etc.). Also with up.
| 1592 G. Harvey Pierce's Super. 175, I..cannot flatter folly..or cocker Ignorance. 1628 Sir R. Le Grys tr. Barclay's Argenis 98 Too foolishly I cocker my own hopes. 1742 Richardson Pamela IV. 321 [He] cockers up that dangerous Propensity, which he ought..to subdue. 1861 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. III. clxxv. 208 If they cocker up the evil by refusing to apply the high-handed remedy. |
Hence ˈcockered ppl. a., ˈcockering vbl. n. and ppl. a.; ˈcockeringly adv.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 85 Cokerynge, or grete cherschynge, focio, nutricio. 1580 Baret Alv. C 728 A father to much cockering, pater nimis indulgens. 1580 Sidney Arcadia ii. 225 These coklings cokred we bewaile too late, When that we see our offspring gaily bent. 1595 Shakes. John v. i. 70. 1607 Fletcher Woman Hater i. iii, Our young wanton cocker'd heirs. 1607 Topsell Serpents (1608) 73 Their [Bees'] young ones be not very nice or tender, nor cockeringly brought up. a 1666 C. Hoole School-Colloq. (1688) 293 You are content to enjoy your mothers cockering. 1693 Locke Educ. §4 Most children's constitutions are..harm'd, by cockering and tenderness. a 1703 Burkitt On N.T. 1 Peter iv. 17 God..is no cockering Father to indulge his children to their ruin. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) VII. xxxi. 124 A cockered favorite. 1857 T. Watson Lect. Physic vii. (ed. 4) 101 Fearing to render them effeminate by over-care and cockering. |
▪ VII. ˈcocker, v.2 Obs. or dial.
[Equivalent in meaning to cockle v.2, both being in form iterative and diminutive, as if from a stem *cock- in sense ‘shake’; probably onomatopœic.]
intr. To totter or oscillate from instability: said of a thing having a high centre of gravity, when it rocks so as to be in danger of falling.
Hence ˈcockering ppl. a.; also ˈcockery, -ie a., ˈcockersome a.; ˈcockeriness n. (all Sc.).
| 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. 118 Some..stirryng their feete as though they stode in a cockeryng bote. 1825–79 Jamieson, Cockering, tottering, threatening to tumble, especially in consequence of being placed too high. |