Dictionary

cockcrow en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

From Middle English cok crowe (also as cokkes crowe), equivalent to cock + crow. Likely a suppletive variation of Old English hancrǣd (“cockcrow, dawn”, literally “cock-crowing”), from hana (“cock, rooster”) + crǣd (“crowing”).

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The time of day at which the first crow of a cockerel is heard; dawn or daybreak; first light.
   • I put the chief of police behind the bar, instructed him in his duties, and we four convivial spirits sprawled along the counter drinking ale and telling yarns till cockcrow. 1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka, Eland, published 2019, page 175:
   • The unfortunate shepherd that approaches them must dance their rounds with them till cock-crow; and the instances are not few of persons thus ensnared who have been found next morning dead with exhaustion and fatigue. 1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 441:

Forms

Relateds

cockcrower · cockcrowing · cockscrow

Synonyms

sparrow-fart · break of day · sunup

Translations (14)

hy առավոտականչ (dawn) · fa خروسخوان (dawn) · cs kuropění (dawn) · sv otta (dawn) · la gallicinium (dawn) · bg първи петли (dawn) · bg разсъмване (dawn) · la gallī cantus (dawn) · sv dagbräckning (dawn) · hy աքլորականչ (dawn) · de Hahnenschrei (dawn) · fi kukonlaulu (dawn) · mk зо́ра (dawn) · sv hanegäll (dawn)