What does "cockneyize" mean?
To pronounce with a cockney accent.
Cockneyize
verb
verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: To pronounce with a cockney accent.
- Grammar: cockneyize is listed as verb.
- Usage evidence: After some sensible remarks to the effect that, before a word beginning with an aspirated “h,” (“heroic,” “harangue,” and “historical,” for instance,) “a” should be used, and not “an,” unless you choose to cockneyize and weaken the aspiration of your “h's,” it is declared that we should avoid the error of not repeating the article, and that we must say, instead of "an ivory handle and silver blade," "an ivory handle and a silver blade," and instead of "an arbitrary and conventional language," "an arbitrary and a conventional language."
How to use "cockneyize"
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Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "cockneyize" in a final draft.
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Before you rely on this definition
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Definition decision workflow
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Definitions
Verb
- 1 To pronounce with a cockney accent.
"After some sensible remarks to the effect that, before a word beginning with an aspirated “h,” (“heroic,” “harangue,” and “historical,” for instance,) “a” should be used, and not “an,” unless you choose to cockneyize and weaken the aspiration of your “h's,” it is declared that we should avoid the error of not repeating the article, and that we must say, instead of "an ivory handle and silver blade," "an ivory handle and a silver blade," and instead of "an arbitrary and conventional language," "an arbitrary and a conventional language.""
- 2 To make vulgar and tasteless.
"To sing such great statesmen and morals so pure, His first bard is Bowring—the second Tom Moore; Leigh Hunt was refused, as a cockneyized calf, And Rogers, for being too comic by half!"
Example
"After some sensible remarks to the effect that, before a word beginning with an aspirated “h,” (“heroic,” “harangue,” and “historical,” for instance,) “a” should be used, and not “an,” unless you choose to cockneyize and weaken the aspiration of your “h's,” it is declared that we should avoid the error of not repeating the article, and that we must say, instead of "an ivory handle and silver blade," "an ivory handle and a silver blade," and instead of "an arbitrary and conventional language," "an arbitrary and a conventional language.""
Common questions
How do you use "cockneyize" in a sentence?
After some sensible remarks to the effect that, before a word beginning with an aspirated “h,” (“heroic,” “harangue,” and “historical,” for instance,) “a” should be used, and not “an,” unless you choose to cockneyize and weaken the aspiration of your “h's,” it is declared that we should avoid the error of not repeating the article, and that we must say, instead of "an ivory handle and silver blade," "an ivory handle and a silver blade," and instead of "an arbitrary and conventional language," "an arbitrary and a conventional language."
Etymology
From cockney + -ize.