7. (printers’).—In gambling or playing with ‘quads,’ a cock is when one
(or more) of the nine pieces does not fall flat but lodges crosswise on
another. The player is then given another chance.
8. (tailors’).—Good cock—poor cock. A good and bad workman
respectively.
Adj. (colloquial).—Chief; first and foremost. Cf., Cock, subs., sense
2.
1676. Etherege, Man of Mode, II., ii., in wks. (1704), 211. Why the
very cock-fool of all those fools, Sir Fopling Flutter.
1856. T. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, pt. II., ch. vi. They’ll
make the old Madman cock medicine-man and tattoo him all over.
Verb (venery).—1. To copulate. Usually employed by women and in the
passive sense: e.g., ‘to want cocking,’ or ‘to get cocked.’ For
synonyms, see Ride.