English

Alternative forms

• pilicock, pillicocke, pelicock, pillycock

Noun

pillicock ‎(plural pillicocks)

1. (archaic) A ****.
   • a. 1325, "Elde" in the Kildare Poems:

     Al þus eld me for-dede...
     Y ne mai no more of loue done,
     Mi pilkoc pisseþ on mi schone...

   • 1608, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of King Lear, Scene xi, ll. 1857 f.:

     Edg. Pilicock sate on pelicocks hill, a lo lo lo.

   • 2013, Nick Buchanan, What Happens in Shakespeare's King Lear, p. 248:

     Edgar, riffing on the sound of the word ‘pelican’, jumps to an old nursery rhyme which starts with the word ‘Pillicock’. He omits the second line, favouring gibberish instead—or a hunting cry? The full couplet is:
     Pillicock sat on Pillicock-hill
     If he's not gone, he sits there still.

2. (obsolete, affectionate) A boy or man.
   • 1598, John Florio, A Worlde of Wordes:

     A pillicocke, a darling, or a wanton, or a minion.

Synonyms

• (****): See Wikisaurus:****
• (darling): See Wikisaurus:boy and man

Derived terms

• pillicock hill

References

1. ↑ "pillicock, n." in the Oxford English Dictionary (2006), Oxford: Oxford University Press.