"live like a fighting cock"

The first edition of the OED defines "to live like a fighting cock" as "to have a profusion of the best food, to be supplied with the best." Two relevant examples listed are

This discussion is based on the definition of the word cock in the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, which requires a little explanation.

To Act I or Act II of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado.

To the homepage of this Mikado website.

Suggestions, contributions, criticisms, questions? Email Sharon Cogdill.

(c) Copyright 1998 Sharon Cogdill, dramaturg for this production and author of this website.

College of Fine Arts and Humanities

St. Cloud State University

This URL: http://web.stcloudstate.edu/scogdill/mikado/fightingcock.html.

Last update: 19 May 1998.