English edit

Etymology edit

cockney +‎ -fy

Verb edit

cockneyfy (third-person singular simple present cockneyfies, present participle cockneyfying, simple past and past participle cockneyfied)

  1. (transitive) To make cockney; to vulgarize.
    • 1837, William Rae Wilson, chapter IV, in Notes abroad and rhapsodies at home, page 65:
      There certainly are a set of John Bulls, both male and female, who would cockneyfy every spot on the globe they might visit — even the very pyramids...
    • 1933 January 9, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter XXX, in Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz [], →OCLC:
      Bozo had a strange way of talking, Cockneyfied and yet very lucid and expressive.
    • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 2, in The Line of Beauty [], 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:
      This first hint of shyness and shame, and the irony that tried to cover it, cockneyfied and West Indian too, made Nick want to jump on him and kiss him.