subs. (old).—A burlesque term of endearment; ‘my good fellow’; ‘my fine fellow.’ [Cf. beau coq; also boy cock, with an eye on chuck].
1599. SHAKESPEARE, Henry V., iii. 2. 25. … Good BAWCOCK, ’bate thy rage! use lenity, sweet chuck. Also (1602), Twelfth Night, iii. 4; and (1604), Winter’s Tale, i. 2. Why, that’s my BAWCOCK. What has smatch’d thy nose?
1861. W. H. AINSWORTH, The Constable of the Tower, 131. One of the gamesome little BAWCOCK’S jests.
