blackcockn.
/ˈblakkɒk/, U.S. /ˈblækˌkɑk/, Scottish English /ˈblakkɔk/ Originally Scottish.
The male of the black grouse, Tetrao tetrix; also called heathcock. Also with unmarked plural.
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the world > animals > birds > order Galliformes (fowls) > family Tetraonidae (grouse) > [noun] > member of genus Lyrurus (black grouse) > male
blackcock1428
heath-cock1590
moorcocka1695
1428 Acts Parl. Scotl. (1814) II. 16/2 Pertrikes pluvares blak cok[e]s.
a1600 R. Lindsay Hist. & Cron. Scotl. (1899) I. 337 Thair was..suan, wile guse, petrick and plever, duke, Brissill cok and powins togither witht blak cok and murefoull and cappercallzes.
1603 J. Monipennie Certeine Matters Realme Scotl. sig. M4 In all the Moore-land, and Mosse-land of Scotland, doth resort the blacke Cocke, a fowle of a marueilous beautie.
1672 T. Shadwell Miser iii. iii. 46 Pheasants, Heath-Pouts, Black-Cocks, Quails, Rails, Larks, &c.
1753 Trial J. Stewart App. 21 He would make black cocks of them, before they entered into possession, by which the deponent understood shooting them.
1791 W. Gilpin Remarks Forest Scenery II. xi. 285 The black-cock, on the other hand, is more a forester, than even the pheasant.
1815 W. Scott Lord of Isles v. xiii. 191 The black-cock deem'd it day, and crew.
1884 Pall Mall Gaz. 12 Aug. 4/1 As for blackcock..the wary old birds..sail in the open over the moor a hundred yards out of shot.
1927 J. Buchan Witch Wood iii. 53 I wouldna say just what's intil the pie, but at any rate there's blackcocks and snipes and leverets, for I had the shooting of them.
1977 N. Shepherd Living Mountain viii. 60 The fighting blackcock suddenly discovered one morning in a clear place among juniper.
2007 R. Lovegrove Silent Fields iv. 69 He could ride 40 miles out from London to shoot Blackcock and return the same day.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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