COCKER . Sir 30:9 ‘Cocker thy child, and he shall make thee afraid,’ that is ‘pamper.’ Cf. Shaks. King John V. i. 70

‘Shall a beardless boy,

A cocker’d silken wanton, brave our fields?’

and Hull (1611), ‘No creatures more cocker their young than the Asse and the Ape.’ The word is not found earlier than the 15th century. Its origin is obscure.