blackcock
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of blackcock
late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; see origin at black, cock 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Our shooting, Arthur, consists of a heathery hillside inhabited by many rabbits, a few grouse—very wild, and an ancient blackcock called Algernon.
From The Setons by Douglas, O.
But if I begin to speak about my dear old dog we shall never arrive at the blackcock, and it is about them I want to speak to-day.
From Vagaries by Munthe, Axel
The swelling heights were brown and bare, like those of Tweeddale; and there the blackcock may still, I believe, be found.
From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 440 Volume 17, New Series, June 5, 1852 by Chambers, William
The grey dissolves into dawn, the dawn into light, and the first blackcock crows to his grey hen in the hollow.
From The Confessions of a Poacher by Anonymous
The blackcock then rejoins his male associates, and the female is left to perform the labours of hatching and rearing her young brood.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 1 "Bisharin" to "Bohea" by Various
In the woody cleughs yonder they are thick as blackcocks in August,” cried the Major impatiently.
From A Daughter of Raasay A Tale of the '45 by Travis, Stuart
Out in the clearing the blackcocks with their wide-spread spotted tails were fighting, while the hens strutting near, craning and chattering, probably some gossip about their fighting swains, watched and were delighted with them.
From Beasts, Men and Gods by Ossendowski, Ferdinand
"It is, indeed," she said, "a good morning's hunting to have got five blackcocks, but it was still better when in one morning a king of Norway took five kings and subdued all their kingdoms."
From Tales of the Enchanted Islands of the Atlantic by Higginson, Thomas Wentworth
Sweet lass, will ye gang wi' me, Where blackcocks crow, and plovers cry?
From The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume III The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century by Rogers, Charles
The General entered the forest, and there hazel-hens were whistling, blackcocks were holding their bragging matches, and hares were running.
From A Survey of Russian Literature, with Selections by Hapgood, Isabel Florence
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
