Word.ws English Dictionary

cockpit

UK/ˈkɒkˌpɪt//ˈkɑkˌpɪt/

cockpit noun: a pit or other enclosure for cockfighting.

cockpit: a pit or other enclosure for cockfighting
Image: Matti Blume, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

cockpit (plural cockpits)

  1. (historical) A pit or other enclosure for cockfighting.
    • I obſerv'd a Place where there had been a Fire made, and a Circle dug in the Earth, like a Cockpit, where it is ſuppoſed the Savage Wretches had ſat down to their inhumane Feaſtings upon the Bodies of their Fellow-Creatures.1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, pages 194–195
    • A cockpit, which was still used for cock-fighting during the Napoleonic Wars, used to occupy the site of the vicarage.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 224, about Heptonstall
  2. (broadly, obsolete) A theater or other entertainment venue.
    • But pardon, and gentles all, / The flat unraised spirits that have dared / On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth / So great an object: can this cockpit hold / The vasty fields of France? or may we cram / Within this wooden O the very casques / That did affright the air at Agincourt?1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
    • The Cockpit or Phoenix Theatre in Drury Lane stood in the parish of St. Giles'-in-the-Fields, on what is now Pitt-place—properly Cockpit-place or Alley.1643, The Actor's Remonstrance or Complaint, for the silencing of their Profession and banishment from their several Play-houses, page 2
  3. (figuratively) A site of conflict; a battlefield.
    • Hungary is become the onely Cockpit of the World, where the Turkes doe strive to gain, and the Christians at the charge of the Emperor of Germany (who entituleth himselfe King of Hungary) doe labour to repulse them: and few summers do passe, but that something is either wonne or lost by either...1624, George Abbot (bishop), A Briefe Description of the Whole World, wherein is particularly described all the Monarchies, Empires and Kingdoms of the same, with their Academies, page 74
    • India became the cockpit in which it was shown that trade was war carried on under another name.2016, Peter Ackroyd, Revolution, Pan Macmillan, published 2017, page 170
  4. (vulgar) The vagina.
    • If then the stone, as doctors tell the story, / Be a disease that prove hereditory, / I trust her daughter will have so much wit, / Early to get a cock for her cock-pit; / And rather then be barren; play the whore, / As her great mother hath done heretofore.1658, John Eliot, Poems, London: Henry Brome
    • […] [S]o that her thighs duly diſclos'd, and elevated, laid open all the outward proſpect of the treaſury of love: the roſe-lipt ouverture preſenting the cock-pit ſo fair, that it was not in nature even for a natural to miſs it: […]1749, [John Cleland], “[Letter the Second]”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], volume II, London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC, page...
  5. (Jamaica) A valley surrounded by steep forested slopes.
    • The grand object of a Maroon chief in war was to take a ſtation in ſome glen, or, as it is called in the Weſt Indies, Cockpit, encloſed by rocks and mountains nearly perpendicular, and to which the only practicable entrance is by a very narrow defile.1803, R. C. Dallas, Esq., The History of the Maroons: […] , volume 1, London: T. N. Longman and O. Rees, →OCLC, page 39

Noun (2)

cockpit (plural cockpits)

  1. (historical) The area set aside for junior officers including the ship's surgeon on a man-of-war, where the wounded were treated; the sickbay.
  2. A well, usually near the stern, where the helm is located.
  3. The driver's compartment in a racing car (or, by extension, in a sports car or other automobile).
  4. The compartment in an aircraft or spacecraft in which the pilot sits and from where the craft is controlled.
    • Jump in the cockpit and start up the engines / Remove all the wheel blocks, there's no time to waste1984, Steve Harris, “Aces High”, in Powerslave, performed by Iron Maiden
    Synonyms:
    flight deck, office
  5. (figuratively) An area from where something is controlled or managed; a centre of control.

cockpit meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

cockpit in Hindi

कॉकपिट

cockpit in Tamil

விமானியறை, சிறு கப்பல், பயணிகளுக்கான பகுதி, நிறையப் போட்டிகள், யுத்தங்கள் நடந்த, நடக்கும் போர்க்களம்

cockpit in Marathi

कॉकपिट

cockpit in Urdu

کاک پٹ, کاکپٹ
More languagesFewer languages
cockpit in Bengali
বিমানের চালককক্ষ
cockpit in Telugu
కాక్పిట్, కాక్ పిట్
cockpit in Malayalam
കോക്ക്പിറ്റ്, കോക്പിറ്റ്
cockpit in Kannada
ಹೋರಾಟದ ಕಳ
cockpit in Punjabi
ਕਾਕਪਿਟ, ਕਾਕਪਿੱਟ, ਕਾਕਪੀਟ
cockpit in Gujarati
કોકપિટ, કોકપીટ
cockpit in Odia
କକପିଟ୍, କକ୍ପିଟ୍, କକପିଟ
cockpit in Nepali
ककपिट, कोकपिट, काकपिट
cockpit in Malay
kokpit
cockpit in Indonesian
ruang pilot
cockpit in Vietnamese
buồng lái

Synonyms of cockpit

Forms of cockpit

pluralcockpits

Origin of cockpit

Compound of cock (“rooster”) + pit.

Either the same as above or from compound of cock (“boat”) + pit, where the first element is also found in cockboat and coxswain.

Words formed from cockpit

Phrases with cockpit

Questions about cockpit

What does cockpit mean?
Cockpit means a pit or other enclosure for cockfighting.
What is cockpit in Hindi?
Cockpit in Hindi is कॉकपिट. See Cockpit meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is cockpit?
Cockpit is a noun.
How do you pronounce cockpit?
Cockpit is pronounced /ˈkɒkˌpɪt/ (UK).
What is the plural of cockpit?
The plural of cockpit is cockpits.

Words near cockpit in the dictionary

  1. cocknify
  2. cocknifying
  3. cocknobs
  4. cockocracy
  5. cockpaddle
  6. cockpit
  7. cockpit recorder
  8. cockpit recorders
  9. cockpit voice recorder
  10. cockpit voice recorders
  11. cockpits

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cockpit (page history and authors); cockpit (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cockpit (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cockpit (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cockpit (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cockpit (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cockpit (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cockpit (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cockpit (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); cockpit (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cockpit (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cockpit (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); cockpit (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-cockpit.wav.

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