Cock″ney (kŏk″ny̆), n.; pl.Cockneys (–nĭz). [OE. cocknay, cokenay, a spoiled child, effeminate person, an egg; prob. orig. a cock's egg, a small imperfect egg; OE. cok cock + nay, neye, for ey egg (cf. Newt), AS. æg. See 1st Cock, Egg, n.] 1. An effeminate person; a spoilt child. “A young heir or cockney, that is his mother's darling.” Nash (1592).
This great lubber, the world, will prove a cockney.
Shak.
2. A native or resident of the city of London; — used contemptuously.
A cockney in a rural village was stared at as much as if he had entered a kraal of Hottentots.
Macaulay.