go off at half cock
go off at half cock is the alternative form of go off half-cocked.
Meaning of go off half-cocked
Verb
go off half-cocked (third-person singular simple present goes off half-cocked, present participle going off half-cocked, simple past went off half-cocked, past participle gone off half-cocked)
- To take a premature or ill-considered action.
- Make sure none of your men go off half-cocked and ruin this operation.
Forms of go off at half cock
| third-person singular present | goes off at half cock |
|---|---|
| present participle | going off at half cock |
| past | went off at half cock |
| past participle | gone off at half cock |
Questions about go off at half cock
- What is go off at half cock the alternative form of?
- Go off at half cock is the alternative form of go off half-cocked.
Words near go off at half cock in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: go off at half cock (page history and authors); go off half-cocked (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.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “go off at half cock.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/go_off_at_half_cock. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.