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  1. half-cocked love

Definitions

Wiktionary

  1. adj. of a gun Not fully cocked
  2. adj. of a plan, etc. Not fully prepared

Examples

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Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘half-cocked’.

Comments

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  • reesetee Well...you know. When you get to it. Oct 22, 2007

  • chained_bear reesetee... you know what? That's a damn good idea. If I haven't already done so.

    Signed, Too Lazy to Check Even My Own Lists. Oct 22, 2007

  • reesetee C_b, there seem to be quite a few common figures of speech that were originally related to firearms & such. Have you thought about making a list?

    Signed, Too Lazy to See Whether You Have Already Oct 22, 2007

  • chained_bear Oh my gosh, I lurve half-cocked Jack. I completely forgot about that connotation!

    Of course, he wasn't given that name because he was... uh... ill-prepared. Oct 21, 2007

  • oroboros Ever since reading Neal Stephenson's System of the World trilogy, I always think of "Half-cocked Jack" when I run across this word. What an amazing character- (and plot-) developer Stephenson is! Oct 20, 2007

  • chained_bear I learned the origin of the term "going off half-cocked" recently. On muskets, you half-cock to put the gun in a position of safety. You can't pull the trigger when it's half-cocked (you literally can't, it won't move, unless of course the gun is malfunctioning). Half-cock is a safe position to handle the weapon, march with it, load powder into the pan, etc. When you go off half-cocked it means you're ill-prepared, and a little stupid.

    Similar origin to "flash in the pan." Oct 20, 2007

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‘half-cocked’ has been looked up 825 times, added to 7 lists, commented on 6 times, and is not a valid Scrabble word.