according to Cocker

English

Etymology

UK circa 1760. Eponymous of Edward Cocker (1631–1676), teacher and author of the popular mathematics textbook known as Cocker's Arithmetick (1678).

Pronunciation

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Prepositional phrase

according to Cocker

1. (dated, colloquial, British, idiomatic) Done properly, correctly and reliably; in accordance with proper procedure and established rules.
   • 1859–1861, [Thomas Hughes], “A Crisis”, in Tom Brown at Oxford: […], part 2nd, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, published 1861, →OCLC, page 140:

     “Well, so you ought to be, according to Cocker, spending all your time in sick rooms.”
     “According to who?”
     “According to Cocker.”
     “Who is Cocker?”
     “Oh, I don't know; some old fellow who wrote the rules of arithmetic, I believe; it's only a bit of slang. […] ”

   • 1885, Lewis Hough, “Touch and Go!”, in For Fortune and Glory:

     A man rode at an Arab who fired and missed him, and then seized his spear, with the apparent intention of meeting him as an infantry soldier should, according to Cocker.

   • 1931, R[ichard] Austin Freeman, “Of a Hansom Cab and a Black Eagle”, in Pontifex, Son And Thorndyke‎^[1]:

     It seems that a certain constable whose beat included Dorchester Square was going his round rather late one evening when he noticed a hansom cab drawn up about the middle of the south side of the square. There was no sign of the driver, and no one minding the horse; and as this was not quite according to Cocker, it naturally attracted his attention.

Related terms

• according to Gunter, according to Hoyle