Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a general term of address to a man; occas. to a woman, see cit. 1682.

1682		Behn Round-heads IV i: lady def.: What’s the matter? lord def.: Nothing Cockey, nothing.
1693		Congreve Old Bachelor IV i: Cocky, Cocky, nay, dear Cocky, don’t cry, I was but in jest.
1725		Bailey (trans.) Erasmus’ Colloquies 196: Ah, ah, are we not by our selves already, my Cocky?
1757		Smollett Reprisal II ix: Now, cocky, ye may gang about your business.
1841		W.J. Neale Paul Periwinkle 62: Cocky, will you open the pleadings?
1849		Bell’s Life in Sydney 6 Jan. 3/5: Go it, my cocky, I can stand it.
1864		Derby Day 117: Cocky, you go up to Wainwrights in the Lane.
1879		Sporting Times 22 Mar. 2/3: ‘Well then, it’s settled, cocky?’.
1886		H. Goldsmid Dottings of a Dosser 58: Look ’ere, cocky, I tell yer if you’ve any wish to keep yer togs safe put ’em under yer piller.
1894		E.W. Rogers [perf. Vesta Tilley] The End of the Song 🎵 Hold up cocky! / Got the jim-jams once again?
1895		‘Banjo’ Paterson ‘How the Favourite Beat Us’ in Man from Snowy River (1902) 169: I said to the jockey, ‘Now, listen, my cocky’.
1900		Sporting Times 13 Jan. 5/4: Look yere [...] I haven’t been hired in as a waiter, cockie.
1900		Harrington & LeBrunn [perf. Marie Lloyd] The Girl in the Khaki Dress 🎵 If he calls me ‘cocky’, I give him a khaki wink.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 27 Jan. 3/5: ‘All right, cocky [...] if you’re satisfied, I am!’.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 20 Apr. 3/7: When you talk of friendship, cockie, p’raps its meanin’ you don’t know.
1908		A.N. Lyons Arthur’s 279: ‘Not to-day, cocky,’ responded Joseph.
1911		H. Champion ‘I’m Getting Ready for Mother-in-Law’ [monologue] When the shopman looked at me I said, ‘It’s all right, cockie!’.
1914		E. Pugh Cockney At Home 132: He addressed the constable on point duty as ‘Cocky’.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 520: You’re such a slyboots, old cocky. I could kiss you.
1929		J.B. Booth London Town 110: ’Arf a mo, cockie!
1935		J. Conroy World to Win 109: ‘You’re wise, cocky,’ said the fat man.
1945		G. Fairlie Capt. Bulldog Drummond 254: Wotcher, cocky!
1971		Wodehouse Much Obliged, Jeeves 31: And you ought to be more careful, cocky, dancing in the middle of the street like that.
1983		M. Read Scouting for Boys in Best Radio Plays (1984) 155: tiger: Tea up, Cocky! colonel: Do you usually barge in without knocking?
1995		(con. 1860s) P. Ackroyd Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem 152: ’Arf a mo’, cocky.