cock

/kɑk/

/kɒk/

Other forms: cocked; cocks; cocking

Cock is most often used to refer to either birds or guns. A cock is a rooster, but it's also the hammer on a gun that you adjust so you can fire it.

You might hear the word cock used to mean "penis," but that's a vulgar form of the word, so be sure you're in the right company if you opt to use it. A cock is a male bird, particularly a rooster. When you cock a gun, you raise its cock to make it ready for firing. When you cock something in a certain direction, you are tilting it that way.

Definitions of cock

1. noun

   adult male chicken
   synonyms: rooster

   types:

   cockerel

   a young domestic cock; not older than one year

   type of:

   Gallus gallus, chicken

   a domestic fowl bred for flesh or eggs; believed to have been developed from the red jungle fowl
2. noun

   adult male bird
   types:

   fighting cock, gamecock

   a cock bred and trained for fighting

   type of:

   bird

   warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings
3. verb

   to walk with a lofty proud gait, often in an attempt to impress others
   synonyms: prance, ruffle, sashay, strut, swagger, tittup

   type of:

   walk

   use one's feet to advance; advance by steps
4. verb

   set the trigger of a firearm back for firing
   type of:

   lay, place, pose, position, put, set

   put into a certain place or abstract location
5. noun

   the part of a gunlock that strikes the percussion cap when the trigger is pulled
   synonyms: hammer

   type of:

   striker

   the part of a mechanical device that strikes something
6. noun

   faucet consisting of a rotating device for regulating flow of a liquid
   synonyms: stopcock, turncock

   type of:

   faucet, spigot

   a regulator for controlling the flow of a liquid from a reservoir
7. verb

   tilt or slant to one side
   “cock one's head”

   type of:

   cant, cant over, pitch, slant, tilt

   heel over
8. noun

   obscene term for penis