Cŏck'ney1, n.
n.; pl. cŏck'NEYS. [O. Eng. cokenay, from cokeney, cokaygne, Fr. cocaigne, cocagne, It. cuccagna, an imaginary country of idleness and luxury. Cf. COCAGNE. In some ancient poetry, the word seems to signify a cook.
And yet I say, by my soul, I have no salt bacon, Ne no cokeney, by Christe, coloppes to make. At that feast were they served in rich array; Every five and five had a cokeney.]
Sense 1. An effeminate person. “A young heir or cockney, that is his mother's darling.” Nash, 1592.
I am afraid this great lubber, the world, will prove a cockney. Shak.
Sense 2. A native or resident of the city of London;—used contemptuously.
A cockney in a rural village was stared at as much as if he had entered a kraal of Hottentots. Macaulay.