cock up v.
(orig. milit.) to blunder, to make a mess of; often as cock it up.
Gun in My Hand 162: I cocked up my exams. | ||
Concrete Kimono 30: O.K. I’d goofed (for U.S. readers) or cocked-up (for the British). | ||
All Bull 60: They cocked things up somehow in my case. | ||
(con. 1960s) Spend, Spend, Spend (1978) 185: I cocked it up. | ||
London Fields 418: It sounds as though you’ve cocked things up nicely. | ||
Foetal Attraction (1994) 181: I like the olden days [...] If a doctor cocked up, his hand got amputated. | ||
Guardian G2 13 July 3: Labour have completely cocked it up. | ||
Powder 232: Tell the band that the promoter’s cocked it up. | ||
Guardian 4 Mar. 22: As though Doreen Lawrence and Sukhdev Reel would be happier if the investigations of their son’s deaths had been cocked-up by officers who weren’t white. | ||
Bible in Cockney 62: He tells the demons where to go, and he forgives people who cock things up – who sin. | ||
Bug (Aus.) July 🌐 The number-one law of the shithouse rat manager is when you cock up, the first thing you do is cover your tracks. | ||
Urban Grimshaw 278: The police and the Crown Prosecution Service had cocked up his papers. | ||
Base Nature [ebook] ‘What d’you bring the big cheese in for?’ [...] ‘In case we cock things up’. |