"halfcock" meaning in English

See halfcock in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: half cock [alternative], half-cock [alternative]
Etymology: From half + cock. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|half|cock}} half + cock Head templates: {{en-noun|-}} halfcock (uncountable)
  1. (firearms) The position when the cock of a gun is at the first notch. Tags: uncountable Categories (topical): Firearms Derived forms: go off at halfcock Translations (Translations): kaketū (Maori)
    Sense id: en-halfcock-en-noun-n1yBGvQi Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Maori translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 48 52 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 47 53 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 48 52 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 48 52 Disambiguation of Terms with Maori translations: 48 52 Topics: engineering, firearms, government, military, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, politics, tools, war, weaponry

Verb

Forms: halfcocks [present, singular, third-person], halfcocking [participle, present], halfcocked [participle, past], halfcocked [past], half cock [alternative], half-cock [alternative]
Etymology: From half + cock. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|half|cock}} half + cock Head templates: {{en-verb}} halfcock (third-person singular simple present halfcocks, present participle halfcocking, simple past and past participle halfcocked)
  1. (firearms) To set the cock of a firearm at the first notch. Categories (topical): Firearms Derived forms: go off halfcocked
    Sense id: en-halfcock-en-verb-MZn4f2b1 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Maori translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 48 52 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 47 53 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 48 52 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 48 52 Disambiguation of Terms with Maori translations: 48 52 Topics: engineering, firearms, government, military, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, politics, tools, war, weaponry

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "half",
        "3": "cock"
      },
      "expansion": "half + cock",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From half + cock.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "half cock",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "half-cock",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "halfcock (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Firearms",
          "orig": "en:Firearms",
          "parents": [
            "Weapons",
            "Hunting",
            "Military",
            "Tools",
            "Human activity",
            "Society",
            "Technology",
            "Human behaviour",
            "All topics",
            "Human",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "48 52",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "47 53",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "48 52",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "48 52",
          "kind": "other",
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        },
        {
          "_dis": "48 52",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Maori translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "go off at halfcock"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2010, Patrick Sweeney, 1911 The First 100 Years: The First 100 Years:",
          "text": "This was bad both for the alibi reshoots it caused and subsequent delays in a match, but if the hammer fell to halfcock enough times, the half-cock notch would mar the sear tip, adversely affecting trigger pull.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The position when the cock of a gun is at the first notch."
      ],
      "id": "en-halfcock-en-noun-n1yBGvQi",
      "links": [
        [
          "firearm",
          "firearm"
        ],
        [
          "position",
          "position"
        ],
        [
          "cock",
          "cock"
        ],
        [
          "gun",
          "gun"
        ],
        [
          "notch",
          "notch"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(firearms) The position when the cock of a gun is at the first notch."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "engineering",
        "firearms",
        "government",
        "military",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences",
        "politics",
        "tools",
        "war",
        "weaponry"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "mi",
          "lang": "Maori",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "kaketū"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "halfcock"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "half",
        "3": "cock"
      },
      "expansion": "half + cock",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From half + cock.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "halfcocks",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "halfcocking",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "halfcocked",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "halfcocked",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "half cock",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "half-cock",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "halfcock (third-person singular simple present halfcocks, present participle halfcocking, simple past and past participle halfcocked)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Firearms",
          "orig": "en:Firearms",
          "parents": [
            "Weapons",
            "Hunting",
            "Military",
            "Tools",
            "Human activity",
            "Society",
            "Technology",
            "Human behaviour",
            "All topics",
            "Human",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "48 52",
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          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
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          "_dis": "47 53",
          "kind": "other",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "48 52",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "48 52",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Maori translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "go off halfcocked"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To set the cock of a firearm at the first notch."
      ],
      "id": "en-halfcock-en-verb-MZn4f2b1",
      "links": [
        [
          "firearm",
          "firearm"
        ],
        [
          "cock",
          "cock"
        ],
        [
          "notch",
          "notch"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(firearms) To set the cock of a firearm at the first notch."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "engineering",
        "firearms",
        "government",
        "military",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences",
        "politics",
        "tools",
        "war",
        "weaponry"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "halfcock"
}
{
  "categories": [
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    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "English verbs",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Maori translations",
    "Translation table header lacks gloss"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "go off at halfcock"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "half",
        "3": "cock"
      },
      "expansion": "half + cock",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From half + cock.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "half cock",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "half-cock",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "halfcock (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Firearms"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2010, Patrick Sweeney, 1911 The First 100 Years: The First 100 Years:",
          "text": "This was bad both for the alibi reshoots it caused and subsequent delays in a match, but if the hammer fell to halfcock enough times, the half-cock notch would mar the sear tip, adversely affecting trigger pull.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The position when the cock of a gun is at the first notch."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "firearm",
          "firearm"
        ],
        [
          "position",
          "position"
        ],
        [
          "cock",
          "cock"
        ],
        [
          "gun",
          "gun"
        ],
        [
          "notch",
          "notch"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(firearms) The position when the cock of a gun is at the first notch."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "engineering",
        "firearms",
        "government",
        "military",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences",
        "politics",
        "tools",
        "war",
        "weaponry"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "mi",
      "lang": "Maori",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "kaketū"
    }
  ],
  "word": "halfcock"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English uncountable nouns",
    "English verbs",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Maori translations",
    "Translation table header lacks gloss"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "go off halfcocked"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "half",
        "3": "cock"
      },
      "expansion": "half + cock",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From half + cock.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "halfcocks",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "halfcocking",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "halfcocked",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "halfcocked",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "half cock",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "half-cock",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "halfcock (third-person singular simple present halfcocks, present participle halfcocking, simple past and past participle halfcocked)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Firearms"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To set the cock of a firearm at the first notch."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "firearm",
          "firearm"
        ],
        [
          "cock",
          "cock"
        ],
        [
          "notch",
          "notch"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(firearms) To set the cock of a firearm at the first notch."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "engineering",
        "firearms",
        "government",
        "military",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences",
        "politics",
        "tools",
        "war",
        "weaponry"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "halfcock"
}

Download raw JSONL data for halfcock meaning in English (3.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-23 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-03-21 using wiktextract (fef8596 and 633533e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.