cockney (plural cockneys)

1. a native or inhabitant of parts of the East End of London
   • 18, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 3, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify ), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, OCLC 1069526323 ↗:

2. the accent and speech mannerisms of these people
3. (obsolete) An effeminate person; a spoilt child.
   • c. 1601–1602, William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or VVhat You VVill”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene i]:

     This great lubber, the world, will prove a cockney.

• (effeminate man) nancy, pansy, sissy; see also Thesaurus:effeminate man

• Portuguese: cockney

cockney (not comparable)

1. of, or relating to these people or their accent

• (British) IPA: /ˈkɒk.ni/

cockney (not comparable)

1. From the East End of London, or London generally

cockney (plural cockneys)

1. (UK, slang) Any Londoner.
   • 1859, J.C. Hotten, A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant and Vulgar Words, 22 ↗

     COCKNEY, a native of London. An ancient nickname implying effeminacy, used by the oldest English writers, and derived from the imaginary fool's paradise, or lubberland, Cockaygne.

2. (UK) A Londoner born within earshot of the city's Bow Bells, or (now, generically) any working-class Londoner.
   • 1617, Fynes Moryson, An Itinerary

     Londoners, and all within the sound of Bow Bell, are in reproach called Cockneys.

   • 1617, John Minsheu, Ductor in Linguas

     A Cockney or Cocksie, applied only to one born within the sound of Bow bell, that is in the City of London.

1. The dialect or accent of such Londoners.