Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

cockfight

American  
[kok-fahyt] / ˈkɒkˌfaɪt /

noun

  • cockfights
    plural
  1. a fight between specially bred gamecocks usually fitted with spurs.


cockfight British  
/ ˈkɒkˌfaɪt /

noun

  1. a fight between two gamecocks fitted with sharp metal spurs

"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

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns


Etymology

Origin of cockfight

First recorded in 1485–95; cock 1 + fight


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:

A 1770 cockfight between Revolutionary patriot Timothy Matlack of Philadelphia and a Loyalist New Yorker, James DeLancey, ended in a brawl that carried more political overtones than today’s Phillies-Mets melees.

From Slate ● Jan. 2, 2018

The site of the cockfight was a dirt path in the ravine aptly known as the Barranca del Muerto.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 11, 2015

Squaring up for a light-hearted cockfight with the admiral on his column, Fritsch's sculpture is a strutting Napoleon giving Nelson the bird.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 25, 2013

And his camera tends to linger: on a cockfight, a pair of lonely women in pageant costumes dancing, on a 10-year-old boy blowing fire at stoplights for small change.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 17, 2011

When Úrsula realized that José Arcadio Segundo was a cockfight man and that Aureliano Segundo played the accordion at his concubine’s noisy parties, she thought she would go mad with the combination.

From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Authorities are still searching for Cirilo Esquivel Alcantar, 56, of San Bernardino, who also is charged with involvement in the cockfights.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2024

Santamaria is a fourth generation breeder and director of the Cultural Freedom Foundation, a group that supports bullfights, cockfights, rodeos and other traditional events that involve animals.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 20, 2023

There were horse races and cockfights and parades of the militia and other military companies.

From Washington Times ● Jul. 3, 2022

Reduce the whole concept to something like cockfights in dark, remote barns for depraved afficionados?

From New York Times ● Mar. 26, 2018

One day we are playing street crickets: it is like cockfights, small-scale.

From "Taste of Salt: A Story of Modern Haiti" by Frances Temple

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training