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cockney Definition

cock·ney (käk)

noun pl. cockneys -·neys

  1. a person born in the East End of London, England, traditionally one born within the sound of “Bow Bells” (i.e., the bells of St. Mary-le-Bow) and speaking a characteristic dialect
  2. this dialect, characterized by extreme diphthongization, loss of the initial (h) sound, and use of an intrusive (r)
  3. loosely any person born or living in London: a humorous or disparaging usage

Etymology: ME cokenei, spoiled child, milksop; understood as coken-ey, lit., cock's egg < coken (OE cocena, gen. pl.), of cocks + ey (OE æg), egg; ? infl. by Fr acoquiné, idle, spoiled (< coquin, rascal)

adjective

of or like cockneys or their dialect

Related Forms:

Cockney Usage Examples

Converse of object

    Adjective modifier

    • chirpy: The image of the chirpy cockney was largely an invention of the Music Halls, which thrived in London, Northern England and Scotland.

    Modifies a noun

    • accent: Fancy your son having a cockney accent, good for you!
    • sparrow: And I had found some people disposed to joining me: genial Swede Magnus and cockney sparrow Ash.
    • girl: In 1914, Bernard Shaw wrote the part of the cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, for her.
    • lad: Jim London ( Jim Davidson ) is a down-to-earth, working class cockney lad.
    • speaker: Cockney speakers also sometimes extend glottal replacement to affect [ p ] and [ k ] as well as [ t ] .
    • geezer: It seems that everyone is a cockney geezer, lifted straight from the set of Lock Stock.

    Noun used with modifier

    • end: While associated very much around the world with the east end cockney modern London is very different to the that stereotype.
Cockney Quotes

I have seen, and heard, much of Cockney impudence before now; but never expected to hear a coxcomb ask two hundred guineas for flinging a pot of paint in the public's face.

—Ruskin,John

Browse dictionary entries near cockney

  1. cockloft
  2. cockling
  3. cockleshell
  4. cockled
  5. cocklebur
  6. cockle
  7. cockiness
  8. cockily
  9. cockiest
  10. cockier
  1. cockneyfied
  2. cockneyfy
  3. cockneyfying
  4. cockneyish
  5. cockneyism
  6. cockneys
  7. cockpit
  8. cockroach
  9. cockscomb
  10. cockshies