subs. (popular).—A mark, butt, or target; any person or thing that is the centre of jaculation.
1836. E. HOWARD, Rattlin, the Reefer, p. 92. ‘What a fine COCK-SHY he would make!’ said Master Blubberlips.
18[?]. LORD STRANGFORD, Letters and Papers, p. 215. This was as if the great geologists … had invited two rival theorists to settle the question of a geological formation by picking up the stones and appealing to the test of a COCKSHY.
1849. THACKERAY, Pendennis, ch. iii. 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.
1876. C. HINDLEY, ed. The Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 262. A desperate fight ensued, the ‘nobblers’ arming themselves with ‘COCKSHY’ sticks.
