cockshy
verbEtymology From cock + shy; so called from an ancient popular sport which consisted in shying or throwing cudgels at live cocks.
1
Ambitransitive To pelt; to throw things at.
cockshy
nounEtymology From cock + shy; so called from an ancient popular sport which consisted in shying or throwing cudgels at live cocks.
1
A game in which trinkets are set upon sticks, to be thrown at by the players.
2
An object at which stones are flung; (by extension) a person who is abused or vilified.
- He had seen Tom Ricketts, of the fourth form, who used to wear a jacket and trousers so ludicrously tight, that the elder boys could not forbear using him in the quality of a butt or ‘cockshy’ […]1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC: