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cockerel

[kok-er-uh l, kok-ruh l] /ˈkɒk ər əl, ˈkɒk rəl/
noun
1.
a young domestic cock.
Origin of cockerel
late Middle English
1400-1450
1400-50; late Middle English cokerelle. See cock1, -rel
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2016.
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Examples from the Web for cockerel
Historical Examples
  • The word "cockerel," as is seen at a glance, is the diminutive of "cock."

    Our Domestic Birds John H. Robinson
  • Little you know, my cockerel, how facile a brain your 'bus so lightly bears.

    Free Air Sinclair Lewis
  • The cockerel should be starved for twenty-four hours in order to empty the intestines.

    The Dollar Hen Milo M. Hastings
  • Thought some o' takin' out a policy o' insurance on my cockerel.

    The Village Convict Heman White Chaplin
  • Best cockerel, or pullet, or cockerel and pullet reared from a setting of 15 eggs.

    School Credit for Home Work Lewis Raymond Alderman
  • Then he said: 'Poultry, cockerel, now I will do the like by thee.'

    The Sundering Flood William Morris
  • And for you, my half-bred Spanish cockerel, know once and for all that this maid is for your betters.

    Montezuma's Daughter H. Rider Haggard
  • A single sound, like the scream of a cockerel, escaped from Hedvig.

    Egholm and his God Johannes Buchholtz
  • Van Schouten sprang from his great chair of state like a cockerel fluttering from a roost.

    The Argus Pheasant John Charles Beecham
  • Still, Master Paul, thine uncle was not so young as thou, my cockerel.

British Dictionary definitions for cockerel

cockerel

/ˈkɒkərəl; ˈkɒkrəl/
noun
1.
a young domestic cock, usually less than a year old
Word Origin
C15: diminutive of cock1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Word Origin and History for cockerel
n.

"young cock," mid-15c. (late 12c. as a surname), apparently a diminutive of cock (n.1). Despite the form, no evidence that it is from French.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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