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.