Word.ws English Dictionary

cockabully

cockabully noun: any of various small, blunt-nosed freshwater fishes, especially gobies of the genus Gobiomorphus.

Noun

cockabully (plural cockabullies)

  1. (New Zealand) Any of various small, blunt-nosed freshwater fishes, especially gobies of the genus Gobiomorphus.
    • We knew the plants on its banks and in the creek the rocks, cockabullies, eels and the old weighted shredded sacks of drowned kittens and cats.1982, Janet Frame, An Angel at my Table, Virago, published 2024, page 30
  2. (New Zealand) Any of various marine fishes of the family Tripterygiidae, found in rockpools and coastal waters.

Forms of cockabully

pluralcockabullies

Origin of cockabully

Probably from Māori kōkopuruao (“banded kokopu”), with alternation of the ending after bully (“goby of the genus Gobiomorphus”). Compare kokopu.

Questions about cockabully

What does cockabully mean?
Cockabully means any of various small, blunt-nosed freshwater fishes, especially gobies of the genus Gobiomorphus.
What part of speech is cockabully?
Cockabully is a noun.
What is the plural of cockabully?
The plural of cockabully is cockabullies.

Words near cockabully in the dictionary

  1. cocka-doodle-do
  2. cocka-doodle-dos
  3. cockable
  4. cockabondy
  5. cockabullies
  6. cockabully
  7. cockache
  8. cockade
  9. cockaded
  10. cockades
  11. cockadoodle

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cockabully (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “cockabully.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cockabully. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.