Also 6–7 iocky, 7–9 jockie. [dim. or pet-form of JOCK1; cf. JACKY: originally Sc. and northern Eng.]
1. A diminutive or familiar by-form of the name Jock or John, usually with the sense ‘little Jock, Jacky, Johnny’; hence, applicable (contemptuously) to any man of the common people (chiefly Sc.); also, a lad; an understrapper. (Cf. JACK sb.1 2.)
a. 1529. Skelton, Agst. Scottes, 90. Kynge Iamy, Iemmy, Iocky my io.
1594. Shaks., Rich. III., V. iii. 304. Iockey [a. 1548 Hall, Chron. Iack] of Norfolke, be not so bold, For Dickon thy maister is bought and sold.
a. 1670. Hacket, Abp. Williams, II. (1693), 142. What could Lesly have done then with a few untrain’d, unarmed Jockeys, if we had been true among our selves?
1795. Burke, Lett. to W. Elliot, Wks. VII. 351. A jockey of Norfolk [see quot. 1594] who was inspired with the resolute ambition of becoming a citizen of France.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, vi. ‘You’re Dombey’s jockey, a’nt you?’ said the first man. ‘I’m in Dombey’s House, Mr. Clark,’ returned the boy.
1827. Coleridge, Table-t., 24 June. Some apple dumplings were placed on the table, and my man … burst forth with ‘Them’s the jockies for me!’
2. A strolling minstrel or beggar; a vagabond. Sc. Obs. exc. Hist.
1683. G. Martine, Reliq. Divi Andreæ (1797), § 1. They are called by others and by themselves jockies, who go about begging and use still to recite the sluggornes.
1685. G. Sinclair, Satan’s Invis. World, xvii. He … turned a vagrant fellow like a Jockie, gaining Meal, Flesh, and Money by his Charms.
1815. Scott, Guy M., vii. The tribes of gypsies, jockies, or cairds.
† 3. One who manages or has to do with horses; one who deals in horses, a horse-dealer. Obs. or dial.
1638. Brome, Antipodes, I. v. Wks. 1873, III. 246. Let my fine Lords Talk o’ their Horse-tricks, and their Jockies, that Can out-talke them.
1668. Pepys, Diary, 4 Dec. I, and W. Hewer, and a friend of his, a jockey, did go about to see several pairs of horses, for my coach.
1721. Bailey, Jockey, one who manages and deals in Horses.
1749. Smollett, Gil Blas, I. ii. I. 7. If I had a mind to sell my mule, he was acquainted with a very honest jocky who would buy her.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), I. 659. Perhaps I design to buy a horse for my riding,… I know there are enow to be had in town, and the jockeys will cheat one egregiously.
1841. Macaulay, Ess. Hastings (1887), 648. The crime … was regarded by them in much the same light in which the selling of an unsound horse, for a sound price, is regarded by a Yorkshire jockey.
b. (From the character attributed to horse-dealers.) A crafty or fraudulent bargainer; a cheat. (Cf. JOCKEY v. 1.)
1683. Tryon, Way to Health, 615. They are meer Jockies in the Art of Wiving, and will Higgle for the other Hundred Pound in Portion.
1777. [T. Swift], Gamblers, 6.
| In each shoot forth the dawning seeds of vice, | |
| The growing Jockey, or the man of Dice. |
1790. Bailey, Jockey,… also a cheat.
† 4. One who rides or drives a horse; a postillion, courier; a charioteer. Obs.
1643. Char. Oxford Incendiary, in Harl. Misc. (1745), V. 473/1. Two of Gondemar’s Jockies, that posted between Whitehall and Madrid.
1702. Addison, Dial. Medals, i. 16. The wise Ancients … heapt up greater Honours on Pindar’s Jockies than on the Poet himself.
1850. [The usual name in South of Scotland for a postillion].
5. spec. A professional rider in horse-races. (The chief current sense.)
Dumb jockey: see DUMB a. 6 (quot. 1853).
1670. Evelyn, Diary, 22 July. We return’d over Newmarket Heath,… the jockies breathing their fine barbs and racers, and giving them their heates.
1693. Lond. Gaz., No. 2845/4. A Jockey’s Saddle stitched with green Silk. Ibid. (1703), No. 3928/4. A Plate of 30l. value will be run for on Nottingham Course, Jockies to ride, to carry 10 Stone weight.
1780. Cowper, Progr. Error, 221. Prepares for meals as jockies take a sweat.
1820. Combe, Dr. Syntax, Consol., x. The jockies whipp’d, the horses ran.
1878. W. E. Gladstone, in N. Amer. Rev., CXXVII. 210. As jockeys meet upon a race-course.
6. ‘A self-acting apparatus carried on the front tub of a set, for releasing it from the hauling rope at a certain point’ (Midland Coal Field).
1882. Gresley, Gloss. Coal Mining.
7. Short for jockey boot, jockey pulley, jockey wheel: see 9.
1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, II. 49 (Hoppe). Top-boots (they’re called Jockeys in the trade).
8. attrib. and Comb. a. attrib. (a) That is a jockey, as (senses 3–5) jockey-boy, -groom, -lord, -parson, -rider; (sense 1) jockey-pedlar. (b) Belonging to or used by a jockey, as jockey-frock, -pad, -seal, -whip (c) Practised by a jockey (sense 3 b), fraudulent, cheating, as jockey trade, trick. b. Comb., as jockey-cut, jockey-like adjs.
1816. Sporting Mag., XLVIII. 36. The anecdote … of poor Jack Clark the *jockey-boy, struck us most forcibly.
1828. Lytton, Pelham, ii. The men … wore *jockey-cut coats.
1806. Surr, Winter in Lond., II. 93. His outer garment was a *jockey frock.
1708. Lond. Gaz., No. 4441/4. John Hague, a *Jockey-Groom,… has lately ran away without accounting … for Mony receiv’d by him.
1765. Universal Mag., XXXVII. 371/1. The State Jockeys … all, *jockey-like, whip to get the best places.
1679. Shadwell, True Widow, 7. He is a … dry-jester to Gameing, and *Jocky-Lords.
1759. Johnson, Idler, No. 62, ¶ 10. I grew ashamed of the company of jockey lords.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Jockey-pad,… a knee-pad on the forepart of a saddle.
1831. Mrs. Sherwood, Henry Milner, III. ii. 33. A sporting parson is quite as good as a *jockey parson surely.
a. 1670. Hacket, Abp. Williams, II. (1692), 223. England deserv’d worse, and heard worse than these *Jocky-Pedlars [Scots] that chaffer’d away their King.
1678. Butler, Hud., III. ii. 1690. Force, enough to fly, And beat a Tuscan Running Horse, Whose *Jocky-Rider is all Spurs.
1867. Baker, Nile Tribut., x. (1872), 161. The latter with a regular *jockey-seat riding most comfortably.
1770. in F. Chase, Hist. Dartmouth College (1891), I. 149. It can’t prosper, for it’s all a *jockey trick from first to last.
1801. Wolcott (P. Pindar), Ep. to Ct. Rumford, Wks. 1812, V. 144. Try every jockey trick to pass thy fame.
1804. Europ. Mag., XLV. 58/2. Time … changes the youth to Harlequin, transforms his *jockey-whip to a wooden sword.
9. Special Combs.: jockey-bar (see quot.); jockey-boot, a top-boot formerly worn by jockeys; jockey-box, ‘a box in a wagon, underneath the driver’s seat, for carrying small articles’ (Cent. Dict., 1890); jockey-cap, a peaked cap of the style worn by jockeys; jockey-cart local [from its motion], a spring-cart; jockey-club, a club or association for the promotion and regulation of horse-racing; spec. the Jockey Club established at Newmarket, which is the supreme authority in Great Britain on all matters connected with horse-racing; jockey-coat, a kind of great-coat (? formerly worn by horse-dealers); jockey-gear, a set of jockey-wheels (see below) with their connected mechanism; jockey-pulley, jockey-wheel, a small wheel that ‘rides’ upon the top edge of a larger one, used for obtaining a high speed, or for keeping a rope in the groove of a grooved wheel; an ‘idle’ pulley or wheel that ‘rides’ upon the belt or rope between two working pulleys so as to increase its contact surface upon these and to tighten it up when slack; jockey-sleeve, (a) a sleeve like that of a jockey-coat; (b) a sleeve or free casing riding on a spindle or shaft, and carrying part of a train of mechanism; used in some forms of electric arc-lights.
1887. So. Chesh. Gloss., *Jockey-bar, the broad flat top bar of a kitchen grate.
1894. Hall Caine, Manxman, II. i. 51. The kettle was singing on the jockey-bar.
1683. Lond. Gaz., No. 1810/4. A pair of *Jockey-Boots.
1725. Swift, Receipt to Stella. All the squires from nine miles round,… With jocky boots and silver spurs.
1851. Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib., 525. Jockey, hunting … and dress boots.
1748. Anson’s Voy., II. vi. 193. Having on a *jocky cap, one side of the peak was shaved off … by a ball.
1831. Mrs. Sherwood, Henry Milner, III. iii. 43. Two young ’squires in jockey caps.
1840. Mrs. F. Trollope, Michael Armstrong, II. xvii. 147 (D.). [No] conveyance more rough and rude than Sir Matthew’s *jockey cart, which was constructed with excellent and efficient springs.
1775. (title) An Appeal to the *Jockey Club; or, a True Narrative of the late Affair between Mr. Fitz-gerald and Mr. Walker.
1809. Sporting Mag., XXXIII. 108. The unerring scales of the Jockey-Club.
1886. Coventry & Watson, Racing, iii. Tradition … assigns to the year 1750 the origin of the Jockey Club.
a. 1745. Swift, Helter Skelter, 10. With whips and spurs so neat; And with *jocky-coats complete.
1752. in Scots Mag. (1753), July, 344/2. He was dressed in a long dun jocky coat.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xiii. His dress was also that of a horse-dealer—a close-buttoned jockey-coat, or wrap-rascal, as it was then termed, with huge metal buttons.
1893. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., Dec., 715. A *jockey pulley attached to the main frame is arranged to take up the slack of the chain.
1896. E. T. Carter, Mot. Power Electr. Mach., 508. The advantage in the use of a jockey pulley is that the arc of contact of the belt on the working pulleys can be increased beyond what is obtainable with a free belt, thus shortening the necessary distance between the pulley centres.
1692. Lond. Gaz., No. 2767/4. A buff-colour Cloth Coat with *Jockey-sleeves.
Hence Jockeydom, (a) the world of jockeys, jockeys collectively; (b) the position or occupation of a jockey; Jockeyish a., like a jockey, ‘horsy’; Jockeyism, the style, phraseology or practice of jockeys.
1869. Punch, 10 July, 10/1. The dearest interests of jockeydom, Sir, stand in jeopardy.
1878. L. Wingfield, Lady Grizel, I. ii. 28. A man who never … spends his nights at hazard, or affects jockeydom at Newmarket.
1838. Fraser’s Mag., XVII. 326. But this, though sufficiently jockeyish, leaves out Hector himself, to make room for his horses.
1802. Sporting Mag., XX. 273. The slang of jockeyism.
1828. Lytton, Pelham, lxi. A mixture of slang and jockeyism.
