cockshy

English

Etymology

cock +‎ shy; so called from an ancient popular sport which consisted in shying or throwing cudgels at live cocks.

Noun

cockshy (plural cockshies)

1. A game in which trinkets are set upon sticks, to be thrown at by the players.
2. An object at which stones are flung; (by extension) a person who is abused or vilified.
   • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Pendennis. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:

     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’ […]

   • 1870 April–September, Charles Dickens, “’What are you doing to the man?’ demands Jasper, stepping out into the moonlight from the shade.
     ’Making a ’’’cock-shy’’’ of him,’ replies the hideous small boy.”, in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1870, →OCLC:

Verb

cockshy (third-person singular simple present cockshies, present participle cockshying, simple past and past participle cockshied)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To pelt; to throw things at.