cocky
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: note: of the US
ipa: /ˈkɒki/
note: of Canada
ipa: /ˈkɑki/
ipa: /ˈkɔki/
ipa: /ˈkɒki/
rhymes: -ɒki
Forms: form: cockies
form: cockey
form: cockie
Etymology: The noun is derived from cock(atoo) + -y (diminutive suffix). The verb is derived from the noun.
Senses: examples: text: By that time, the white cockatoo—a beautiful bird, as large as a common fowl—would find out the family gathering-place, and waddle along, calling 'Pretty Cocky! Pretty Cocky!' […] Presently, Cocky ruffles his plumage till he looks half as large again as before; he throws his crest, with its double fan of brilliantly yellow feathers, as far forward as possible, and spreads and closes it rapidly.
ref: 1868 October, M. G. Sleeper, “Pets and Sports in Tasmania”, in Merry’s Museum, for Boys and Girls, volume 1 (New Series), number 10, Boston, Mass.: Horace B. Fuller, publisher, […], published 1869, →OCLC, page 399:
text: "Hello Cocky! What yer want?" This in a more-than-human voice from a fine sulphur-crested cockatoo. "Hello Cocky!" His thick black tongue worked in his narrow mouth. So absolutely human the sound, and yet a bird's.
ref: 1923, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Willie Struthers and Kangaroo”, in Kangaroo, London: Martin Secker […], →OCLC, page 229:
text: Visit the local store at Coles Bay and you're greeted by a talking cocky called Jim. […] [A]s we bid farewell to this environmental showpiece, Jim the talking cocky is again the centre of attention …
ref: 2005 August 5, Tim Jeanes, “Town Seeks Environmental Accreditation”, in The World Today, Australian Broadcasting Commission, archived from the original on 01 Oct 2017:
text: One afternoon a flock of glossy black cockatoos alights on a cluster of she-oaks in the western corner of the yard where they screech in ear-splitting decibels until dusk. […] [H]e tells her that the arrival of black cockies is a portent of rain. But the rain doesn't come.
ref: 2008, Amanda Lohrey, Vertigo: A Novella, Melbourne, Vic.: Black Inc., Schwartz Publishing, →ISBN; Vertigo: A Pastoral, 2nd edition, Melbourne, Vic.: Black Inc., Schwartz Publishing, 2009, →ISBN, pages 57–58:
text: He smacked his lips a couple of times and grimaced. God, his mouth tastled like the bottom of a cockie’s cage. Probably smelt as appealing too.
ref: 2011, Barry Simiana, chapter 15, in A Touch of Evil, [Morrisville, N.C.?]: Nitewriter Media, →ISBN, page 131:
text: Next comes the rosellas and the cockatoos and the rest of the local parrots. Their singing is much heartier, and they begin to drown out their cousins. Finally Kate can hear a galah, his deep-throated song is interrupted by the cockies, but he is persistent in his welcome to the day.
ref: 2012, Samantha Carter, “Hard Won Rewards”, in All Secrets Told, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 61:
glosses: A familiar name for a cockatoo.
examples: text: 'I'll get down among the cockies along the Lachlan or some of those rivers,' said Mitchell, throwing down his swag beneath a big tree. 'A man stands a better show down there. [...] One cocky I worked for wanted me to stay with him for good. Sorry I didn't. [...']
ref: 1896, Henry Lawson, “Another of Mitchell’s Plans for the Future”, in While the Billy Boils, Sydney, N.S.W.: Angus and Robertson […], →OCLC, page 110:
text: We camped one evening at Narrangidgery Creek, close b’ a cocky’s ’umstead.
ref: 1907, Barbara Baynton, chapter 2, in Human Toll, London: Duckworth & Co., →OCLC; republished as Human Toll (eBook; no. 0607531h.html), [Australia]: Project Gutenberg Australia, September 2006, archived from the original on 13 Sep 2018:
text: Burrawong was one of the larger stations in which much of the good land of the district was locked. The cockies usually had to follow the main road, but since the drought the owners had opened one of their permanent water-holes so that the poorer settlers could cart water to their homesteads.
ref: 1946, Miles Franklin, “Back on the Land”, in My Career Goes Bung: Purporting to be the Autobiography of Sybella Penelope Melvyn, Melbourne, Vic.: Georgian House, →OCLC; republished as My Career Goes Bung (eBook; 0900281h.html), [Australia]: Project Gutenberg Australia, March 2015, archived from the original on 12 Sep 2018:
text: That chap could be one of them. Or it could be the local butcher or newsagent, or cow cockie. We don't know. We've got to keep going.
ref: 2001, Peter Doyle, The Devil’s Jump, Milsons Point, N.S.W.: Arrow/Random House, →ISBN; The Devil’s Jump (A Dark Passage Book), 1st American edition, Portland, Or.: Verse Chorus Press, 2008, →ISBN, page 255:
text: And stories in the bush may not seem relevant in the big smoke, but try telling that to a cocky.
ref: 2001 November 19, Shelley Horton, “Media Dimensions: Episode 15”, in Australian Broadcasting Commission, archived from the original on 17 Nov 2007:
text: Now—well, Moura was scarcely Drinkwater, but it was more than just a cocky farm too.
ref: 2010, Jackie French, A Waltz for Matilda (Matilda Saga; 1), Pymble, N.S.W.: Angus & Robertson, →ISBN:
text: Joseph was a cockie, a small-scale farmer. Such farmers were called cockies in the early days of European settlement in Australia because, like the cockatoos that weaved and screeched above them, they made their homes on the edges of creeks and permanent waterholes.
ref: 2018, Jeremy Ward, “The McCullochs and the Kimlins”, in Dressmakers, Preachers and Cockies: A Family History Memoir, Tingalpa, Qld.: Boolarong Press, →ISBN, page 4:
synonyms: cockatoo
crofter
glosses: Clipping of cockatoo farmer (“small-scale farmer”); (by extension) any farmer or owner of rural land.
Derived terms: boss cocky
cocky apple
cocky chaff
cocky country
cocky farmer
cocky gate
cocky's joy
cow cocky
sheep cocky