Meaning of Cockney | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A native or inhabitant of parts of the East End of London.
2. Any Londoner.
   UK, slang
3. The dialect or accent of such Londoners.
4. An effeminate person; a spoilt child.
   obsolete
5. A Londoner born within earshot of the city's Bow Bells, or (now generically) any working-class Londoner.
   UK

Equivalents

Examples

“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.”

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

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

““Charming place, ma’am,” said he, bowing to the widow; “noble prospect—delightful to us Cocknies, who seldom see anything but Pall Mall.””

“Parkinson: You made films before, but the part that really made your name was Zulu, wasn't it […] and there of course—against type—you played the toff, you played the officer. Caine: I played the officer, yeah, and everybody thought I was like that. Everyone was so shocked when they met me, this like Cockney guy had played this toffee-nosed git.”

“A cockney in a rural village was stared at as much as if he had entered a kraal of Hottentots.”

“A young heir, or cockney, that is his mother's darling[…]”

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

CEFR level