corking, adj. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

corking adj.

also corker

1. excellent, wonderful.

1886		Clarkesville Wkly Chron. (TN) 16 Oct. 1/3: Joe led off with a corking hit into right field.
1891		C.H. Hoyt A Trip to Chinatown Act II: A corking supper, my boy!
1898		Binstead & Wells A Pink ’Un and a Pelican 264: [chapter heading] A corking Christmas confronts William.
1900		T. Dreiser Sister Carrie 173: I’ve often thought you’d make a corking good actress.
1910		‘O. Henry’ ‘A Night in New Arabia’ in Strictly Business (1915) 219: Oh, canary-bird seed! [...] Ain’t it a corkin’ situation?
1918		T. Thursday ‘Words & Music’ in Top-Notch 15 June 🌐 I got a corking idea for a song while I was half asleep,.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 406: The Deity ain’t no nickel dime bumshow. I put it to you that he’s on the square and a corking fine business proposition.
1922		Wodehouse Clicking of Cuthbert 53: And what a corking game it is!
1926		Brooklyn Dly Times (NY) 5 Nov. 17/3: Samuelson [...] turned in a corking victory over Pete Bullion.
1929		D. Parker ‘You Were Perfectly Fine’ in Parker (1943) 182: Oh, I’m great [...] Corking, I am.
1937		E. Raymond Marsh 70: This is corking – not half!
1938		J. Weidman I Can Get It For You Wholesale 117: He’s got a corking puss to sling muck at!
1940		M. Marples Public School Slang 4: Words expressing general approval [...] corking: A corker (1887) was originally something which settled the matter, hence something or someone remarkable [...]corking [...] follows by analogy with ripping, etc.
1944		‘A.P. Gaskell’ ‘The Pig & Whistle’ Big Game and Stories (1947) 67: It’s such a corker name for a small country pub.
1944		L. Glassop We Were the Rats 15: By crikey, I hadn’t thought of that. That’s corker.
1951		A. Buckeridge Jennings Follows a Clue (1967) 77: It’s supposed to be a corking secret.
1954		J.E. Macdonnell Jim Brady 26: He’s got a corker black eye!
1959		G. Slatter Gun in My Hand 124: It’s a corker dress.
1971		N. Armfelt Catching Up 140: He’s a corker athlete all round.
1986		V.G. O’Sullivan Pilate Tapes 58: By Christ boy it’s a corker day.
1999		Indep. Rev. 26 June 20: To mark the events [...] a corking great book of astronautical holiday snaps has just come out.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 398: [H]e did come up with a corking pearl of Jimbo wisdom.

2. (US) in sense of quantity.

1894

Herald (Los Angeles) 28 Oct. 9/2: De only thing I am afraid of is dat de Kernel’s agents [...] is overplayin’ de hand — 9000 new names is corkin’ big work to go up against.