cockcrow
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.18 in modern English
21
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The time of day at which the first crow of a cockerel is heard; dawn or daybreak; first light.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "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."
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”).