cock|ney

cock|ney «KOK nee», noun, plural -neys, adjective.

–n.

1. a) a person born or living in the eastern section of London, who speaks a particular dialect of English. By tradition a cockney is one who was born within the sound of Bow bells. b) the dialect of cockneys. In the dialect of cockney, words like lady and road are pronounced as lī´dē and roud, and most sounds represented by “h” are not pronounced.

2. Obsolete. a) a pampered child. b) a squeamish, affected, or effeminate person.

–adj.

of or like cockneys or their dialect.

╂[Middle English cokeney city fellow, pampered child, (literally) cock's egg < cocken of a cock¹ + ey egg, Old English ]