"cock up" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cock"
      },
      "expansion": "cock",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "The first citation in the Oxford English Dictionary is from a 1948 Dictionary of Forces’ Slang. The OED suggests that it derives ultimately from the noun cock, but gives no further detail. The nature of the earliest citation suggests that this expression entered the wider language from military slang, making etymologies from typesetting or archery (see below) seem unlikely.\nThe term is sometimes attributed to the days of manual typesetting, when a letter that had become wedged slightly higher than the other letters on the line was said to be “cocked up”.\nAnother claim relates to medieval archery. One of the three feathers on an arrow is a cock’s feather. If the arrow was incorrectly placed on the bow for drawing and release, the arrow would go off course because of the cock’s feather being up and therefore the arrow positioned wrongly on the bow. This was then known as a “cock up”.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "cocks up",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cocking up",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cocked up",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cocked up",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "cock up (third-person singular simple present cocks up, present participle cocking up, simple past and past participle cocked up)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Commonwealth English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English phrasal verbs with particle (up)",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Irish English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "noun"
          ],
          "word": "cock-up"
        },
        {
          "tags": [
            "noun"
          ],
          "word": "cockup"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To ruin (something) unintentionally; to fuck up, mess up, or screw up."
      ],
      "id": "en-cock_up-en-verb-B-e-n1N2",
      "links": [
        [
          "transitive",
          "transitive"
        ],
        [
          "intransitive",
          "intransitive"
        ],
        [
          "ruin",
          "ruin#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "unintentionally",
          "unintentionally"
        ],
        [
          "fuck up",
          "fuck up"
        ],
        [
          "mess up",
          "mess up"
        ],
        [
          "screw up",
          "screw up"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, intransitive, chiefly British, Commonwealth, Ireland, slang, mildly vulgar) To ruin (something) unintentionally; to fuck up, mess up, or screw up."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "slang",
            "vulgar"
          ],
          "word": "balls up"
        },
        {
          "tags": [
            "British",
            "slang",
            "vulgar"
          ],
          "word": "bollocks up"
        },
        {
          "tags": [
            "British",
            "slang",
            "vulgar"
          ],
          "word": "bugger up"
        },
        {
          "tags": [
            "slang",
            "vulgar"
          ],
          "word": "fuck up"
        },
        {
          "word": "mess up"
        },
        {
          "word": "muck up"
        },
        {
          "tags": [
            "vulgar"
          ],
          "word": "screw up"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "British",
        "Commonwealth",
        "Ireland",
        "intransitive",
        "mildly",
        "slang",
        "transitive",
        "vulgar"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to ruin (something) unintentionally",
          "word": "pilata"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to ruin (something) unintentionally",
          "word": "tärvellä"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to ruin (something) unintentionally",
          "word": "sotkea"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to ruin (something) unintentionally",
          "word": "möhlätä"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to ruin (something) unintentionally",
          "word": "verbocken"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to ruin (something) unintentionally",
          "word": "versauen"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to ruin (something) unintentionally",
          "word": "versemmeln"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-cock up.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/14/En-au-cock_up.ogg/En-au-cock_up.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/En-au-cock_up.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "cock up"
}

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "noun"
      ],
      "word": "cock-up"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "noun"
      ],
      "word": "cockup"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "cock"
      },
      "expansion": "cock",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "The first citation in the Oxford English Dictionary is from a 1948 Dictionary of Forces’ Slang. The OED suggests that it derives ultimately from the noun cock, but gives no further detail. The nature of the earliest citation suggests that this expression entered the wider language from military slang, making etymologies from typesetting or archery (see below) seem unlikely.\nThe term is sometimes attributed to the days of manual typesetting, when a letter that had become wedged slightly higher than the other letters on the line was said to be “cocked up”.\nAnother claim relates to medieval archery. One of the three feathers on an arrow is a cock’s feather. If the arrow was incorrectly placed on the bow for drawing and release, the arrow would go off course because of the cock’s feather being up and therefore the arrow positioned wrongly on the bow. This was then known as a “cock up”.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "cocks up",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cocking up",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cocked up",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cocked up",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "cock up (third-person singular simple present cocks up, present participle cocking up, simple past and past participle cocked up)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "British English",
        "Commonwealth English",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English phrasal verbs",
        "English phrasal verbs with particle (up)",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "English verbs",
        "English vulgarities",
        "Irish English"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To ruin (something) unintentionally; to fuck up, mess up, or screw up."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "transitive",
          "transitive"
        ],
        [
          "intransitive",
          "intransitive"
        ],
        [
          "ruin",
          "ruin#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "unintentionally",
          "unintentionally"
        ],
        [
          "fuck up",
          "fuck up"
        ],
        [
          "mess up",
          "mess up"
        ],
        [
          "screw up",
          "screw up"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, intransitive, chiefly British, Commonwealth, Ireland, slang, mildly vulgar) To ruin (something) unintentionally; to fuck up, mess up, or screw up."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "slang",
            "vulgar"
          ],
          "word": "balls up"
        },
        {
          "tags": [
            "British",
            "slang",
            "vulgar"
          ],
          "word": "bollocks up"
        },
        {
          "tags": [
            "British",
            "slang",
            "vulgar"
          ],
          "word": "bugger up"
        },
        {
          "tags": [
            "slang",
            "vulgar"
          ],
          "word": "fuck up"
        },
        {
          "word": "mess up"
        },
        {
          "word": "muck up"
        },
        {
          "tags": [
            "vulgar"
          ],
          "word": "screw up"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "British",
        "Commonwealth",
        "Ireland",
        "intransitive",
        "mildly",
        "slang",
        "transitive",
        "vulgar"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-cock up.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/14/En-au-cock_up.ogg/En-au-cock_up.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/En-au-cock_up.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to ruin (something) unintentionally",
      "word": "pilata"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to ruin (something) unintentionally",
      "word": "tärvellä"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to ruin (something) unintentionally",
      "word": "sotkea"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to ruin (something) unintentionally",
      "word": "möhlätä"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to ruin (something) unintentionally",
      "word": "verbocken"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to ruin (something) unintentionally",
      "word": "versauen"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to ruin (something) unintentionally",
      "word": "versemmeln"
    }
  ],
  "word": "cock up"
}