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:
Part of the accusation was aimed at a cocker spaniel the Nixons were given by a supporter that his six-year-old daughter Tricia had named Checkers.
From Salon ● May 8, 2026
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
Coastguards have lowered a dog owner on a rope down a cliff to help rescue her cocker spaniel.
From BBC ● Mar. 7, 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
We both dug, with him going double fast to embarrass me into doing it better, till we had a hole big enough to fit a cocker spaniel.
From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri
Arthur Cocker was another of those turning out for the event, wearing a two-piece suit, a watch and traditional chain.
From BBC ● Mar. 2, 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
They do Joe Cocker live on their shows.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2025
British indie-pop icons Pulp, led by enigmatic frontman Jarvis Cocker, this year released their first new album in 24 years, entitled "More".
From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2025
The Clumber, Sussex, Norfolk and Cocker breeds are the best established.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 6 "Dodwell" to "Drama" by Various
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
The magazine also contains obituaries memorializing accomplished cockers and endless advice on how to care for your brood.
From Salon ● Jun. 27, 2012
Some hunters swear by collies and cockers, and it is not uncommon to find a German shepherd or even a great Dane ranging through the cornfields.
From Time Magazine Archive
Very popular just now in this class are the spaniels, especially the cockers.
From If You're Going to Live in the Country by Lieberman, Frank
Instead of being made comfortable, and cockered up with every luxury, as they are at Clubs, bachelors ought to be rendered profoundly miserable, in my opinion.
From The Book of Snobs by Thackeray, William Makepeace
For my part, I am the most cockered up of any mortal being; and one of the healthiest, or thereabout, at some modest distance from the bull's eye.
From Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson — Volume 2 by Stevenson, Robert Louis
He and his wife they flattered and cockered her up.
From Marcella by Ward, Humphry, Mrs.
"You have, I dare say, been cockered up at the Marchesa's with made dishes."
From Ayala's Angel by Trollope, Anthony
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 Fuller, O. E. (Osgood Eaton)
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 Sala, George Augustus
So Susan found herself making lame excuses, which did not avert a sharp lecture from the Countess on the cockering of her daughter.
From Unknown to History: a story of the captivity of Mary of Scotland by Yonge, Charlotte Mary
And as to our Jeanie, they are all cockering her up till she'll no be content with a king.
From Two Penniless Princesses by Yonge, Charlotte Mary
And Eleanor, with all her gentle courtesy and kindness, was strictly withheld by her husband from pampering or cockering his pages; nor did she ever transgress his will.
From The Prince and the Page; a story of the last crusade by Yonge, Charlotte Mary
It's cockering themselves, and it's ignorance, Madam, it's not poverty.
From The Chorus Girl and Other Stories by Garnett, Constance
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.
