Also 8 cockard. [A corruption of cockard, a. F. cocarde, in 16th c. coquarde, deriv. of coq cock; according to Littré, so called from the cock’s comb. But the first appearance of the word is in Rabelais, in the phrase bonnet à la coquarde, explained by Cotgrave (1611) as ‘a Spanish cap, or fashion of bonnet vsed by the most substantiall men of yore … also, any bonnet, or cap, worne proudly, or peartly on th’ one side.’ Here coquarde appears to be the fem. of coquard adj. ‘foolishly proud, saucy, malapert,’ as sb. ‘a malapert coxcomb’ (Cotgr.).]
A ribbon, knot of ribbons, rosette, or the like, worn in the hat as a badge of office or party, or as part of a livery dress.
The cockade worn in the hat by coachmen and livery servants of persons serving under the Crown, is a rosette of black leather, originally the distinctive badge of the House of Hanover, as the White Cockade was of the House of Stuart and its adherents.
[1660. Act Tonnage & Poundage 12 Chas. II., Capravens, Cockared Caps, China Pease.]
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 44, ¶ 1. The Coachman with a new Cockade.
1717. Pope, 3 Hours after Marr., Epil. To the lac’d hat and cockard of the pit.
1748. Derby Mercury, XVI. No. 27, 16 Sept., 1/3. The Crew neatly dressed, with Cockades of Blue and Red Ribbons in their Hats.
1750–75. Jacobite Song (in Herd) The White Cockade, He’s ta’en the field wi’ his white cockade.
1792. A. Young, Trav. France, 145. I was questioned for not having a cockade of the tiers etat.
1818. Parl. Deb., 644. Mr. Lockhart … had known 30,000 cockades given away at an election, and this signal of party was thus made an engine of bribery.
1847. Hist. Rec. 3rd Lt. Dragoons, 39. Hats—bound with gold lace, and ornamented with a yellow metal loop, and a black cockade.
Hence Cockadeless a., without a cockade; Cockadewise adv., in the manner of a cockade.
1850. Fraser’s Mag., XLII. 97/1. In baby-clothes and cockadeless cap of dainty lace.
1882. E. O’Donovan, Merv Oasis, I. xxviii. 482. Turbans, one end of the cloth stuck up cockade-wise in front.
