turncock
Britishnoun
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.
You will pardon the momentary laceration of a wounded spirit, made sensitive by a recent collision with a minion of the law,—in short, with a ribald turncock attached to the waterworks.
From Practice Book by Powers, Leland
The little man was left in the centre of the room, his deep eyes smouldering upon the backs of the retreating members, his thumb and finger raised to the turncock of the metre.
From The Island Pharisees by Galsworthy, John
Oh, very well," he answered promptly; "then we're the 'Backward Sons of Gentlemen'—that's down in the prospectus—and we're fetching water for Mother Stimcoe, because the turncock cut off the company's water this morning!
From Poison Island by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir
It usually runs into a cistern, until the water-rates get into arrear, when the supply ceases through the intervention of a turncock.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, November 13, 1841 by Various
They watched him oil a turncock sunk in the ground between two furze-bushes.
From Stalky & Co. by Kipling, Rudyard
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.
