cockeyen.1adj.
/ˌkɒkˈʌɪ/, U.S. /ˈkɑkˌaɪ/ colloquial.
A. n.1
1.
a. An eye which has a permanent deviation in the direction of its gaze, resulting in defective alignment with the other; (in plural) defectively aligned eyes. Cf. cockeyed adj. 2a.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of eye > disordered vision > [noun] > squinting or cross-eyes
cast1505
squint-eyedness1591
squinting1626
squinta1652
squintness1656
strabism1656
strabismus1684
cockeye1738
goggle-eye1822
nystagmus1822
cross-eyes1826
cross-eyedness1846
anorthopia1849
heterophthalmy1854
hyperphoria1881
heterophoria1886
hypertropia1897
intorsion1899
hypophoria1932
prairie squint1937
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of eye > disordered vision > [noun] > squinting or cross-eyes > squinting eye
walleye1526
cockeye1738
swivel eye1765
gimlet-eye1825
squinter1873
1738 Virginia Gaz. 28 July One named James Fazakerley, a low well-set Man, about 25 Years of Age; is pretty much mark'd with the Small-Pox, has a cock Eye, and squints.
1841 Knickerbocker Apr. 343 Do you see that gentleman over there in the corner, with a red face and a cock-eye?
1897 Cent. Mag. July 326/2 The quarrel resulted in..Wilkes having his cock-eyes perpetuated in caricature.
1932 ‘L. G. Gibbon’ Sunset Song in Scots Quair (1995) 23 She was no great beauty, with a cock eye and a lazy look and nothing worried her, not a mortal thing.
2002 J. Barclay Paras over Barras vi. 93 ‘It's a wonder you noticed, Wullie,’ Ina said, patting her hair at the back. ‘Especially wi' they cock-eyes of yours.’
b. Chiefly derogatory. A cockeyed person. Chiefly (and in earliest use) as a nickname.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of eye > disordered vision > [noun] > squinting or cross-eyes > person
westlookera1425
squint-eyes1653
squintifego1693
squinter1738
cockeye1750
squint-a-pipes1788
1750 Whitehall Evening-post 6–8 Dec. 20 Prisoners were tried at the Old-Bailey, three whereof were capitally convicted, viz. John Watling, and John Carbold, otherwise Cock-Eye, for Smuggling; and John Richardson, for Burglary.
1819 Courier 26 Oct. Cockeye was a captured negro..; he resided at Charlotte Town, and generally was employed to look after and interpret for these people.
1877 E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincs. Cock-eye, one who squints. She's a real cock-eye.
1956 W. J. Keating & R. Carter Man who rocked Boat vii. 64 They call him Cockeye but not to his face.
2003 M. Arax & R. Wartzman King of Calif. i. 14 The eye, which earned him the cruel moniker Cockeye, was not the worst of his features.
2. Australian. colloquial. Chiefly in Western Australia and Northern Territory: a cyclone or thunderstorm, esp. one which is sudden and violent, but short-lived; short for cockeye Bob n. at Compounds. Now chiefly attributive.
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the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > bad weather > [noun] > stormy weather > a storm > cyclonic
cyclone1848
willy-willy1880
storm-system1897
cockeye1904
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > bad weather > [noun] > stormy weather > a storm > violent storm
tormenta1300
tourmente1847
cyclone1856
cockeye1904
1904 Western Mail (Perth, Austral.) 5 Mar. 33/3 The boats were started in a cockeye (which is a very sudden and severe squall), which blew hard from the eastward.
1935 Walkabout (Austral.) Aug. 13/2 There are the transient ‘cock-eyes’ alarming enough to ships caught unprepared.
1941 K. S. Prichard Moon of Desire 36 Things were at their worst, with the heat and cock-eyes brewing.
1959 Bulletin (Sydney) 4 Mar. 16/1 It's cockeye season in Australia's Nor'-west.
2018 K. Lance Silver Highways xviii. 246 Early in the New Year a vicious cock-eye storm hits Broome at night.
B. adj.
1. Askew, crooked; not level, aslant; awry; = cockeyed adj. 3b.
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the world > space > shape > misshapenness > [adjective] > crooked
wough862
crumba1100
wrongc1175
crooked?c1225
crochedc1300
forcrookedc1305
miscrookeda1398
crumpleda1400
kirkeda1425
camshoch1513
crooken1589
awry1728
thraward1814
ajee1816
ahoo1828
crinkly-crankly1850
unstraight1860
cockeye1891
cockeyed1899
crookedy1907
the world > space > relative position > inclination > [adjective] > askew
obliquate?a1425
cama1600
ajee1816
askew1831
skew-whiff1839
splay1873
catawampous1885
skewgee1890
cockeye1891
boss-eyed1898
skewy1898
cockeyed1899
squiffy1941
akimbo1943
1891 C. J. C. Hyne Matrimonial Mixture II. xiii. 237 And, whilst you are down, you might shift that breeching straight. She's wriggled it all cock-eye.
1920 A. P. Herbert House by River v. 74 The fat one with the insolent leer and the cap all cock-eye.
1936 New Yorker 17 Oct. 21/2 De pitcher hangs cockeye.
2017 W. Smith & T. Harper Tiger's Prey 20 Others were trying to lower her long boat, which hung cockeye on its moorings.
2. Topsy-turvy; absurd, ridiculous; crazy, irrational; = cockeyed adj. 3a.
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the world > relative properties > order > order, sequence, or succession > [adjective] > reversing natural order > reversed (of order)
preposterous1533
inverse1568
inversed1573
inverted1577
retrograde1664
cockeye1899
1899 R. Kipling Stalky & Co. 299 Don't see how you can make Latin prose much more cock-eye than it is, but we'll try, said Beetle, transposing an aliud and Asia from two sentences.
1928 Sunday Express 16 Dec. 2/1 The world is all going cock-eye.
1989 M. S. Turner Joan Robinson & Americans xiv. 171 It is all exhilarating, and all values are not cockeye.
2005 Times (Nexis) 17 June 41 No job, no money, no food and nothing in the shops. Our brains are going cockeye.
Compounds
cockeye Bob n. Australian (chiefly in Western Australia and Northern Territory) a cyclone or thunderstorm, esp. one which is sudden and violent, but short-lived; = cockeyed Bob n. at cockeyed adj. and adv. Compounds.Sometimes shortened to cockeye (see sense A. 2). [An early suggestion that this expression reflects a borrowing < an Australian Aboriginal language cannot be substantiated.]
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1884 Victorian Express (Geraldton, W. Austral.) 13 Feb. Our picturesque little town [sc. Roebourne] was for some two hours merged in a monstrous ‘cock eye bob’, to use a common aboriginal colloquialism.
1937 I. L. Idriess Forty Fathoms Deep viii. 73 Almost daily the sky blackened as cock-eye bobs shrieked upon them, to lash them in sheets of rain.
1978 M. Douglas Follow Sun 11 An early ‘cock-eye-bob’ or cyclone could sink us or put us on a reef.
2009 West Australian (Perth) 22 May 47/1 The toilet at Melita in the Eastern Goldfields was blown away by a cockeye bob.
cockeye pilot n. now rare any of several small, colourful damselfishes of the family Pomacentridae found chiefly in the West Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico; esp. the beau gregory, Stegastes leucostictus.
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1880 C. Ives Isles of Summer xiii. 237 Among the remaining Bahama fish, he [sc. Mr. Sargeant] mentions the margate, cat.., cockeye, pilot, mullet [etc.].]
1898 D. S. Jordan & B. W. Evermann Fishes N. & Middle Amer. (Bull. U.S. National Mus. No. 47) ii. 1555 Eupomacentrus leucostictus (Müller & Troschel). (Beau Gregory; Cockeye Pilot; Black Pilot.)
1905 D. S. Jordan Guide Study of Fishes II. xxii. 383 The ‘cockeye pilot’, or jaqueta,..green with black bands, swarms in the West Indies.
1983 J. S. Zaneveld Caribbean Fish Life 82 Eupomacentrus leucostictus..: beau gregory (Ba2,CS,Cu,NA-Eu, M, Sa, USA, USA-F); black pilot (Cu); cockeye pilot (USA-F); yellow belly (Ba2).
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2019; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1adj.1738