[f. COCK v.1 3–5.]
1. A pronounced upward turn; an upward bend (of the nose, etc.); a significant turn (of the eye).
1824. Scott, St. Ronan’s, iii. They were collected ‘viis et modis’ said the Man of Law … with a knowing cock of his eye to his next neighbour.
1843. Fraser’s Mag., XXVIII. 694/1. My nose had lost its pretty cock, and had grown elegantly hooked.
2. A way of cocking a hat on the head.
1717. Bullock, Wom. a Riddle, II. (1729), 32. I have an inimitable Cock with my Hat, that adds a Vivacity to my Looks.
1840. Thackeray, Catherine, ix. A fierce cock to his hat, and a shabby genteel air.
3. An upward turn given to the brim of a hat; a mode of so turning it up; concr. the turned-up part of the brim.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 104, ¶ 2. He … wore in a smart Cock, a little Beaver hat edged with Silver.
1712. Budgell, ibid. No. 319, ¶ 5. The Variety of Cocks into which he moulded his Hat.
1726. Cavallier, Mem., I. 80. Putting … a Tuft of white Ribands in the Cocks of their Hats.
1785. Boswell, Tour Hebrides, 9 Oct. 1773. The wind being high, he let down the cocks of his hat.
1822. Bewick, Mem., 44. He had had his knapsack, as well as his coat laps and the cocks of his hat, shot through and through, and yet had escaped unhurt.
† 4. ‘A kind of cap, or head-dress’ (Jamieson); cf. COCK-UP. Sc. Obs.
1768. Ross, Poems, 137 (Jam.). And we maun hae pearlins, and mabbies, and cocks.
