Cock"ney (?), n.; pl. Cockneys (#). [OE. cocknay, cokenay, a spoiled child, effeminate person, an egg; prob. orig. a cock's egg, a small imperfect egg; OE. cok cock + nay, neye, for ey egg (cf. Newt), AS. aeg. See 1st Cock, Egg, n.]

1.

An effeminate person; a spoilt child.

"A young heir or cockney, that is his mother's darling."

Nash (1592).

This great lubber, the world, will prove a cockney. Shak.

2.

A native or resident of the city of London; -- used contemptuosly.

A cockney in a rural village was stared at as much as if he had entered a kraal of Hottentots. Macaulay.

 

© Webster 1913.


Cock"ney, a.

Of or relating to, or like, cockneys.

 

© Webster 1913.