Meanings of “Cock A Snook”
The phrase “cock a snook” means a gesture made to deride somebody, or mock somebody, or use ironic remarks or gestures against somebody.
Origin of “Cock A Snook”
The phrase “cock a snook” is stated to have originated from Wynne’s Diary published as back as in 1791 where it goes thus: “They cock snooks at one.” However, the phrase does not have an with it article. In a later version appearing in The Story of My Life by Augustus Hare, it, however, shows the use of an article where it is given in brackets as (cutting snooks). It was published in 1879.
Examples in Literature
Example #1
Life for Today by James H. Tait
The one you loved and left behind will forever and a day
Not forget the words you’ve spoken, the last they heard you say.
And so in times of anger, as we often sometimes do
We say the things that later we have the cause to rue.
Waste not a single moment, don’t cock a snook at fate,
Now’s the time to take it back, for tomorrow’s much too late.
The poet advises that we must never say bad words about our relatives whatever the situation or circumstance we may encounter, for such words often backfire. Then he also points you never to waste time or “cock a snook” at fate. He means that a person should not mock his luck or fate, or whatever it is.
Example #2
The Vulgar Tongue: Green’s History of Slang by Jonathon Green
Some titles and lyrics reveal a treatment of drugs that was unrivaled in its openness. Narcotics had been outlawed since 1914 and cannabis, which in America, meant marijuana, from 1937. It made no difference if anything accentuating the illicit thrill and cock-a-snook attitude that lay behind the musical display.
The paragraph sheds light on the use of drugs and narcotics in America, adding that it has been a common phenomenon. It means that the people used anything that could make them enjoy things and adopt a “cock-a-snook” attitude for breaking the law which is still a fashion over there.
Example#3
Warlords of Republican Rome: Caesar Versus Pompey by Nic Fields
As his world collapsed around him, Lucullus was given a rare moment of satisfaction when he heard the news that his pestiferous brother in law had been captured by the Cilician pirates. Having absconded from Lucullus’ camp after stirring up the mutiny, Clodius had headed west and paid a visit to another of his brother-in-law, Quintus Marcius Rex (cos. 68BC), the governor of Cilicia. Marcius, who intensely disliked Lucullus and was more than happy to cock a snook at him, had given the younger mutineer the command of a war fleet, and it was while out on patrol with this that Clodius had been seized.
The passage sheds light on the attitude of the warlords of those times that they sometimes side Clodius and sometimes Rerx but stay vacillating between the two, seeing which side is seemingly winning, so that they could immediately join it. The phrase has been used in the second last line with reference to Marcius Rex, the most vacillating one, showing this attitude which is quite literal in its meanings.
Example #4
Heaven’s Command by Jan Morris
In 1875 this magnificent slab of country, ranging from the heavenly wine valleys of the Cape to the arid plateau of the Transvaal, was as usual in tumult. The obdurate Transvaal Boers were constantly at war with the blacks upon their ill-defined frontiers and were also threatening to cock a snook at the Empire by building a railway to Delagoa Bay, in Portuguese East Africa, to give themselves an independent outlet to the world.
This passage talks about the imperialism of the previous century. The passage tells that the Boers were constantly in a state of battle, fighting against whoever comes their way and even eying the Empire for building a railway in their countryside. The phrase has been used in the connotative sense that they cared hell for the imperial forces that were quite overwhelmingly superior to them.
Example in Sentences
Example #1: “Randall cocked a snook when his father corrected him for failure. He hoped that he and his siblings would get an equal share.”
Example #2: “The thief showed a cock a snook for stealing a watch. Hence, the police increased his jail term.”
Example #3: “Once a friend is lost; he is lost for good. There is no way to find him again it was right to show a cock a snook attitude.”
Example #4: “Gary threw a glance at his boss with a cock a snook after he handed him the duties for next month.”
Example #5: “You are cocking a snook at me though I have never dared to testify against you.”