cocker
noun
cocker
1 American
[kok-er]
/ ˈkɒk ər /
noun
cocker
2
American
[kok-er]
/ ˈkɒk ər /
noun
cocker
3
American
[kok-er]
/ ˈkɒk ər /
verb (used with object)
-
cockers,
present (3rd person singular)
-
cockered,
past participle, past
-
cockering
present participle
cocker
1
British
/ ˈkɒkə /
noun
-
a devotee of cockfighting
-
short for cocker spaniel
cocker
2
British
/ ˈkɒkə /
verb
noun
Cocker
3
British
/ ˈkɒkə /
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
cockersimple
-
cockerssimple
-
have cockeredperfect
-
has cockeredperfect
-
am cockeringprogressive
-
are cockeringprogressive
-
is cockeringprogressive
-
have been cockeringperfect progressive
-
has been cockeringperfect progressive
Past
-
cockeredsimple
-
had cockeredperfect
-
was cockeringprogressive
-
were cockeringprogressive
-
had been cockeringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cocker1
First recorded in 1790–1800; extended sense of cocker 2 ( def. )
Origin of cocker2
First recorded in 1650–60; (game)cock + -er 1, that is, gamecock fancier
Origin of cocker3
First recorded in 1400–1450; origin uncertain
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:
The couple moved to Lancashire last year, accompanied by cocker spaniels Bruce and Bernie, and rabbits Bea and Bailey, after Warner Judd completed her PhD in regenerative medicine at Loughborough.
From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2026
Doc Holliday, 8, a black-and-white English cocker, passed from this life into the next a week ago Tuesday.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 14, 2026
The couple, from Tonypandy, Rhondda Cynon Taf, brought Leah's mum's cockapoo Bear and her brother's cocker spaniel Lola to Henrhyd Falls.
From BBC ● Nov. 14, 2025
Mamaradlo breeds cocker spaniels that live with her when they’re not “working.”
From Salon ● Aug. 18, 2025
From up near the station came the barking of a dog—the watchman, a dark and surly man, had seen them and his black and surly cocker spaniel had seen them.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
Other noteable gigs there have been Rod Stewart, Status Quo and Joe Cocker in 1991, Bryan Adams and Prince in 1992, U2 and Utah Saints in 1993.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
The song, now considered a classic rock staple, has been covered by multiple artists including Joe Cocker, Huey Lewis, the Jackson 5, Gladys Knight & the Pips and Grand Funk Railroad.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026
Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker famously stormed the stage in protest while Michael Jackson performed surrounded by children in 1996, while Madonna suffered whiplash injuries in 2015.
From Barron's ● Feb. 28, 2026
Pulp are up for best group, 30 years after Jarvis Cocker stormed the stage during Michael Jackson's performance at the 1996 Brits.
From BBC ● Feb. 27, 2026
He even found a new hobby: the breeding of Cocker spaniels, and worked up an interest in the development of his daughter that ran easily with that of training his puppies.
From The Tragic Bride by Francis Brett Young
But maybe this young man has a better plan, maybe how you old cockers did it is antiquated.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 14, 2013
That disparity draws cockers to states like Alabama, where the penalties are often as light as those given for routine traffic violations.
From Salon ● Jun. 27, 2012
Flip through the Gamecock and it’s clear that cockers are a close fraternity who take a great deal of pride in their roosters and treat this as a primary livelihood.
From Salon ● Jun. 27, 2012
Today most prize-winning cockers at U. S. shows are descendants of Red Brucie.
From Time Magazine Archive
The butcher, who has the care of her, cockers her up with dainties, and she begs biscuit of the cook.
From Letters from the Cape by Lady Lucie Duff Gordon
She is cockered up into a domestic martyr, and is bred into an impatience of reproof which is very harmful and very ungraceful.
From Brave Men and Women Their Struggles, Failures, And Triumphs by O. E. (Osgood Eaton) Fuller
"Well, let him e'en stay," said Sir John; "it will be a better training for him than among the gilded little varlets who are cockered up among Princess Joan's ladies."
From The Lances of Lynwood by Charlotte Mary Yonge
In addition to these there was quite a little tribe of cousins, who were cockered up in their homes with cold meats and strong soup.
From Four Short Stories By Emile Zola by Émile Zola
Well, not exactly bunt, but so cockered up and scorched, as to be no more good.
From The Parson O' Dumford by George Manville Fenn
We in the West and South have been like David, cockered and pampered overmuch.
From The Men of the Moss-Hags Being a history of adventure taken from the papers of William Gordon of Earlstoun in Galloway by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
You want cockering up," he said, "and coddling and waiting on.
From A Life Sentence A Novel by Adeline Sergeant
The prayers of cockering mothers prevailed with him just as much as the requests of indulgent fathers, rather increasing than mitigating his severity on their offending children.
From The Last Leaf Observations, during Seventy-Five Years, of Men and Events in America and Europe by James Kendall Hosmer
She had been a cockering, fawning nurse to me not so many months ago.
From The Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous, Vol. 1 Who was a sailor, a soldier, a merchant, a spy, a slave among the moors... by George Augustus Sala
At the same time he prophesied his hopes of me, and many a judicious person blamed him for treating me as something out of the ordinary, and cockering up pride.
From Lazarre by Mary Hartwell Catherwood
Sometimes they pine and fall into a slow consumption, we nursing, cockering, and physicking them to the last.
From Nancy by Rhoda Broughton
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