• (RP, New Zealand) IPA: /ˈkɒki/
• (GA) IPA: /ˈkɑki/
• (AU) IPA: /ˈkɔki/

cocky (comparative cockier, superlative cockiest)

1. Overly confident; arrogant and boastful.

   Synonyms: Thesaurus:arrogant

• French: suffisant, arrogant
• German: arrogant, frech
• Italian: arrogante, impertinente
• Russian: зано́счивый
• Spanish: arrogante, pedante, chulo, creído, engreído, petulante, bravucón, valentón

cocky (plural cockies)

1. (chiefly, Britain, Ireland, colloquial, dated) Used as a term of endearment, originally for a person of either sex#Noun|sex, but later primarily for a man#Noun|man.
   • 1693, [William] Congreve, The Old Batchelour, a Comedy. […], 2nd edition, London: Printed for Peter Buck, […], OCLC 316362426 ↗, Act IV, scene i, page 31 ↗:

     Nay Cocky, Cocky, nay dear Cocky, do not cry, I was but in Jeſt, I was not ifeck.

   • 1757, [Tobias George Smollett], The Reprisal: Or, The Tars of Old England. […], London: Printed for R[oberts] Baldwin, […], OCLC 219939191 ↗, Act II, scene ix, page 41 ↗:

     Now, cocky, ye may gang about your buſineſs; when ye come back, I'ſe tauk with you in another ſtile.

cocky (plural cockies) (chiefly Australia, New Zealand, informal)

1. A (familiar#Adjective|familiar name#Noun|name for a) cockatoo.
   • 1923, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “Willie Struthers and Kangaroo”, in Kangaroo, London: Martin Secker […], OCLC 5175814 ↗, page 229 ↗:

     "Hello Cocky! What yer want?" This in a more-than-human voice from a fine sulphur-crested cockatoo. "Hello Cocky!" His thick black tongue worked in his narrow mouth. So absolutely human the sound, and yet a bird's.

2. (also, attributively) Short for cockatoo farmer#English|cockatoo farmer (“small-scale farmer”); (by extension) any farmer or owner of rural land#Noun|land.

   Synonyms: cockatoo, crofter

   • 1896, Henry Lawson, “Another of Mitchell’s Plans for the Future”, in While the Billy Boils, Sydney, N.S.W.: Angus and Robertson […], OCLC 154280213 ↗, page 110 ↗:

     'I'll get down among the cockies along the Lachlan or some of those rivers,' said Mitchell, throwing down his swag beneath a big tree. 'A man stands a better show down there. [...] One cocky I worked for wanted me to stay with him for good. Sorry I didn't. [...']

cocky (cockies, present participle cockying; past and past participle cockied)

1. (intransitive, chiefly, Australia, informal, historical) To operate a small-scale farm#Noun|farm.

   Synonyms: cockatoo