Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (Aus./N.Z., also Captain cooker, cooker) a pig, esp. one which is run-down or ill-kempt.

1879		W. Quin N.Z. Country Journal III 55: Many a rare old tusker, finds a home in the mountain gorges. The immense tusks at Brooksdale attest the size of the wild boars or Captain Cooks, as the patriarchs are generally named.
1888		Timaru Herald (Canterbury) 10 Sept. 4/1: He was attacked by a huge boar [...] Mr Young made to terrify him, the ungainly Captain Cooker approached.
1894		E. Wakefield N.Z. after Fifty Years 85: A gaunt ill-shaped, or sorry-looking pig is everywhere called in derision a ‘Captain Cook.’.
1909		Otautau Standard (Otago) 19 Oct. 4/4: A tusker of immense size - a regular Captain Cooker.
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 18 July 16/3: I had business in the Bay of Islands (M.L.) which compelled me to be a guest of Henare’s for some weeks. [...] Joints with the vegetables were, for a time, obtained by an ardent crusade against the long-nosed ‘Captain Cooks,’ who rooted for a scanty living in the kauri forests.
1918		Kia Ora Coo-ee 15 June 3/3: Game abounds in parts; geese, sandgrouse, partridge, duck and ‘Captain Cookers’ have figured in our bill of fare.
1933		(ref. to 1890-1910) L.G.D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs (1951) 367: Captain Cooker – Slang for wild pig.
1938		R. Hyde Nor the Years Condemn 128: They [...] heard wild pig crashing in the undergrowth. ‘Old Captain Cooker, eh?’ said Starkie.
1940		(con. 1875) E.C. Studholme Te Waimate (1954) 256: ‘Captain Cookers’ are high off the ground and very slab sided, designed rather for speed than for bacon.
1946		P.L. Soljak N.Z. 117: New Zealanders have coined or adapted many expressions to meet local requirements, as illustrated by the following: [...] Captain Cooker: wild pig.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 25/1: Captain Cooker wild pig the good captain introduced; also a cooker, described by Edward Jerningham Wakefield as ‘a gaunt, ill-shaped or sorry looking pig’.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

2. a book; a betting book.

1960		J. Franklyn Dict. of Rhy. Sl. 47/1: Captain Cook(s) (1) England: book(s) [...] late 19C. origin, coinciding with the popularization of the Public Lending Libraries, and is now used largely by racing men to describe the betting book.
1969		S.T. Kendall Up the Frog.
1972		Dodson & Saczek Dict. of Cockney Rhy. Sl.
2002		B. Kirkpatrick Wicked Cockney Rhy. Sl.
2021		Betoota-isms 244: ‘There’s a Commodore for sale down on the highway, might go down and have another Captain Cook’.

3. (Aus./N.Z./US, also captain) a look.

1919		Truth (Brisbane) 28 Sept. 2/2: [B]y the Captain Cook on his Flying and Trial, he didn't care whether she was Aussie or English.
1932		(con. WWI) L. Mann Flesh in Armour 179: ‘Take a captain cook at love’s young dream’.
1942		Argus (Melbourne) 18 Apr. 3s/6: ‘Captain Cook’ is a look.
1946		D. Stivens Courtship of Uncle Henry 70: I took a Captain Cook at him then and seen he had on a white coat like a dentist.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 21: I sat down and had a Captain Cook at the paper.
1963–74		B. Humphries Barry McKenzie [comic strip] in Complete Barry McKenzie (1988) 73: I reckon she would have dropped her harolds and gone off like a two-bob watch at the first pom to have a captain cook at her bloody norks.
1967		J. Wynnum I’m a Jack, All Right 8: I’ve just taken a Captain Cook at the harbour watchbill.
1968		J. Alard He who Shoots Last 5: Take a captain over dere.
1968		J. O’Grady Gone Troppo (1969) 80: Let’s have a Captain Cook.
1970		Galton & Simpson ‘Cuckoo in the Nest’ Steptoe and Son [TV script] Let’s have a Captain Cook at you.
1983		R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 22: Captain Cook Look.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 89: Names of prominent, and even not so prominent, people, and even department stores, have always proved fertile sources of Australian rhyming slang, such as bass and flinders winders (windows); captain cook look, as in take a captain cook at that, also used in Cockney rhyming slang.
2002		D. Shaw ‘Dead Beard’ at www.asstr.org 🌐 I get down close to Dionne’s fainting fits and give them a captain cook: the tips are sticking out like cigar butts.
2006		P. Carey Theft 69: All the vice squad [...] come to have a Captain Cook.
2016		N. Cummins Adventures of the Honey Badger [ebook] I’ve had a bit of a Captain Cook around the globe and I’ve seen some flash joints.

4. (N.Z. prison) a hook, i.e. a punch.

1982

G. Newbold Big Huey 246: captain cook (n) Punch or hook.