cockney Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a native of the east end of London
  2. noun the nonstandard dialect of natives of the east end of London
  3. adjective characteristic of Cockneys or their dialect
    • cockney vowels
  4. adjective relating to or resembling a cockney
    • Cockney street urchins

WordNet

Cock"ney noun
Etymology
OE. cocknay, cokenay, a spoiled child, effeminate person, an egg; prob. orig. a cock's egg, a small imperfect egg; OE. cok cock + nay, neye, for ey egg (cf. Newt), AS. æg. See 1st Cock, Egg, n.
Wordforms
plural Cockneys
Definitions
  1. An effeminate person; a spoilt child. "A young heir or cockney, that is his mother's darling." Nash (1592).
    This great lubber, the world, will prove a cockney. Shak.
  2. A native or resident of the city of London; -- used contemptuosly.
    A cockney in a rural village was stared at as much as if he had entered a kraal of Hottentots. Macaulay.
Cock"ney adjective
Definitions
  1. Of or relating to, or like, cockneys.

Webster 1913