Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A native of the East End of London.
- noun The dialect or accent of the natives of the East End of London.
- adjective Relating to cockneys or their dialect.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A spoiled child; hence, a foolish or effeminate person; a simpleton: often used as a term of reproach without a very clear signification.
- noun In the following passages the meaning of the word is uncertain. It is conjectured to mean, in the first three, “a cock” or “a cook,” etc.; in the last, “a cook.”
- noun A native or a permanent resident of London: used slightingly or by way of contempt, and generally with allusion to peculiarities of pronunciation or insularity or narrowness of views.
- noun [capitalized] Same as
Cockaigne , 2 (where see extract). - Pertaining to or like cockneys or Londoners: as, cockney conceit; cockney speech.
- To pamper; fondle; cocker.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun An effeminate person; a spoilt child.
- noun A native or resident of the city of London, especially one living in the East End district; -- sometimes used contemptuously.
- noun the distinctive dialect of a cockney{2}.
- adjective Of or relating to, or like, cockneys.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun a native or inhabitant of parts of the
East End ofLondon - noun the
accent andspeech mannerisms of these people - adjective of, or relating to these people or their accent
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the nonstandard dialect of natives of the east end of London
- noun a native of the east end of London
- adjective characteristic of Cockneys or their dialect
- adjective relating to or resembling a cockney
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word cockney.
Examples
-
The first recorded use of the word cockney was in 1521 to suggest an urban fool, a man who believed in an egg laid by a cockerel.
Telegraph Blogs 2009
-
The first recorded use of the word cockney was in 1521 to suggest an urban fool, a man who believed in an egg laid by a cockerel.
Telegraph Blogs 2009
-
The first recorded use of the word cockney was in 1521 to suggest an urban fool, a man who believed in an egg laid by a cockerel.
Telegraph Blogs 2009
-
The first recorded use of the word cockney was in 1521 to suggest an urban fool, a man who believed in an egg laid by a cockerel.
Telegraph Blogs 2009
-
The first recorded use of the word cockney was in 1521 to suggest an urban fool, a man who believed in an egg laid by a cockerel.
Telegraph Blogs 2009
-
Paul best not to get involved in cockney stuff as it’s so terribly lower class.
Cheeseburger Gothic » There will be a short break in transmission while I get back under this bus. 2010
-
You get bits of UK garage, Caribbean steel drums and what can only be described as cockney country rock thrown in but while the 2 Bears are clearly having a laugh, there's a genuine passion for house music there.
-
Getting called cockney, even though I was an Essex Boy.
A La Recherche Du Gents Perdue juliette 2009
-
This is of course a cockney view of what, without offence, I will term a cockney proceeding.
Lines in Pleasant Places Being the Aftermath of an Old Angler William Senior
-
I have to break a cockney's neck before I can convince him that I know the way I want things done, and they have to be done that way.
johnmperry commented on the word cockney
in cockney rhyming slang, usually only the first word of the rhyme-pair is used, leading to mystification of non-cockney listeners.
June 18, 2008