- TO WHIP THE COCK
- A piece of sport practised at wakes,
horse-races, and fairs in Leicestershire: a cock being tied
or fastened into a hat or basket, half a dozen carters
blindfolded, and armed with their cart whips, are placed
round it, who, after being turned thrice about, begin to
whip the cock, which if any one strikes so as to make it
cry out, it becomes his property; the joke is, that instead
of whipping the cock they flog each other heartily.
The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.