cock
verb/kɒk/
/kɑːk/
Verb Forms
Idioms Phrasal Verbs| present simple I / you / we / they cock | /kɒk/ /kɑːk/ |
| he / she / it cocks | /kɒks/ /kɑːks/ |
| past simple cocked | /kɒkt/ /kɑːkt/ |
| past participle cocked | /kɒkt/ /kɑːkt/ |
| -ing form cocking | /ˈkɒkɪŋ/ /ˈkɑːkɪŋ/ |
- cock something to raise a part of your body so that it is pointing upwards or at an angle
- The dog cocked its leg by every tree on our route (= in order to urinate).
- He cocked an inquisitive eyebrow at her.
- She cocked her head to one side and looked at me.
- The dog stood listening, its ears cocked.
- cock a gun/pistol/rifle to raise the hammer on a gun so that it is ready to fire
Word OriginOld English cocc, from medieval Latin coccus; reinforced in Middle English by Old French coq.
Idioms
See cock in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionarycock an ear/eye at something/somebody
- to look at or listen to something/somebody carefully and with a lot of attention
cock a snook at somebody/something
- (British English) to say or do something that clearly shows you do not respect somebody/something
- to cock a snook at authority
Check pronunciation:
cock