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cock-a-hoop

[kok-uh-hoop, -hoo p, kok-uh-hoop, -hoo p]
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adjective
  1. in a state of unrestrained joy or exultation; boastfully elated: He was cock-a-hoop over his victory.
  2. askew; out of kilter: He knocked his hat cock-a-hoop.
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Origin of cock-a-hoop

First recorded in 1520–30; origin uncertain
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for cock-a-hoop

Historical Examples

  • And all cock-a-hoop, and no waiting for the mistress to come back.

    A Son of Hagar

    Sir Hall Caine

  • Cock-a-hoop with your new commission, before the ink is dry.

    Frank Mildmay

    Captain Frederick Marryat

  • All cock-a-hoop for it,” struck in Cattledon: “as the housemaids are.

  • That is all there is of rebellion, treason, and sedition,—all the cock-a-hoop story!

    Lewis Rand

    Mary Johnston

  • We were so impressed by his guileless face and cock-a-hoop assurance, that we had not the heart to turn him away.

    Bunch Grass

    Horace Annesley Vachell

British Dictionary definitions for cock-a-hoop

cock-a-hoop

adjective (usually postpositive)
  1. in very high spirits
  2. boastful
  3. askew; confused
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Word Origin

C16: perhaps from the phrase to set the cock a hoop to live prodigally, literally: to put a cock on a hoop, a full measure of grain
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