cockshut

English

Alternative forms

• cockshoot

Etymology

From Middle English cokshote, equivalent to cock +‎ shut.

Noun

cockshut (countable and uncountable, plural cockshuts)

1. (countable, obsolete) A kind of net for catching woodcock.
2. (obsolete) Twilight, when poultry would be shut in for the night.
   • 1593, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Richard the Third', act 5, scene 3:

     Sir Richard Ratcliff: Thomas the Earl of Surrey, and himself,
     Much about cock-shut time, from troop to troop
     Went through the army, cheering up the soldiers.

   • 1603, Ben Jonson, The Satyr; republished in The Works of Ben Jonson, volume 6, London: For G. and W. Nicol, et al, 1816, page 473:

     1 Fai.: Mistress, this is only spite:
     For you would not yesternight
     Kiss him in the cock-shut light.

Synonyms

• crepusculum, mirkning, nightfall; see also Thesaurus:dusk

Derived terms

• cockshut time