requiring money in payment. The French, at a very early period, called the English cocagne men, i.e. bons vivants (beef and pudding men).
“Cry to it, nuncle, as the cockney did to the cels, when she put them into the paste alive.”- Shakespeare: Lear, ii. 4.The king of cockneys. A master of the revels chosen by students of Lincoln's Inn on Childermas Day (Dec. 28th).