Definitions
Wiktionary
- adj. of a gun Not fully cocked
- adj. of a plan, etc. Not fully prepared
Examples
“While the risk (of new attacks) may go up, the good news is that in the rush to do something, some of these (groups) may go off half-cocked" and allow U.S. officials to learn more about the surviving terror networks.”
USA Today: Bin Laden's death creates leadership void, may spark reprisals
“Here, too, was the past versus the future, and the past quit on its stool before the start of the seventh round in the first fight before succumbing to a half-cocked right cross, the famous "phantom punch", after 1min 43sec of the opening round of the second, a moment of sporting history still scrutinised in case it should throw up new evidence of Ali's genius or Liston's corrupted soul.”
The Guardian: Muhammad Ali still carrying that torch on his 70th birthday | Richard Williams
“Meanwhile, some half-cocked ideas are floating around about how to make farmers 'markets stricter, less accessible, and heavier on bureaucracy and process.”
The Huffington Post: Elizabeth McVay Greene: Chaos at the Farmers' Market
“It was a remarkably stupid question, and President Obama put him in his place on the follow-up, saying that he preferred to "know what he's talking about" before going off half-cocked.”
The Huffington Post: Eric Alterman: Think Again: Wall Street Wins (and Whines)
“They can manage arched eyebrows and knowing smiles, of course, and possibly hike up a few prices as a result, but proper full-on guffaws at the absurdity of it all – at the prospect of flogging recycled Warholia and half-cocked conceptualism to Chinese industrialists and impeccably orthodontured hedge-fund managers – that would never do.”
“The atomization presented here makes that final moment of crossing the threshold of the loo door all the more moving: despite their squabbles, they manage, half-cocked, to approach the stage as one.”
“Â Of course, some little part of me wants to know if the creators really broke this all down, issue by issue, before soliciting a story that needed six part as five, or if the urge to get cracking on the return of Barry Allen led them to go off half-cocked.”
The Flash - Rebirth #5 | Major Spoilers - Comic Book Reviews and News
“April 19th, 2010 at 6: 35 pm tombaker says: attacking the gun-goofs with police would just give them exactly what they want … besides, terrorists should not be negotiated with. only a fool would go off half-cocked and launch a full-scale attack when provoked by a radical splinter-faction enemy many times smaller than himself.”
“We're supposed to be keeping Portland weird, not half-cocked paranoid crazies.”
“Joe Scarborough can go off on a half-cocked misinformed rant that monopolizes the show and cows everyone else around the table.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘half-cocked’.
-
funny & derogatory
WARNING: VERY EXPLICIT. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
funny derogatory names, quotes, phrases.
( open list, randomness, ad hom, ad hominem )
also see:
buttfucking quitter, dirty sanchez, donkey punch, falcon punch, assbadger, unicorn turd, assclown, fudgenut, quackery, friggin homo, buttmuncher, jackwagon and 274 more... -
hyphenated halfs
are a lot of these halfs half-thought-out?
half-cocked, half-breed, half-bath, half-assed, half-a-buck, half-baked, half-dead, half-asleep, half-back, half-clothed, half-done, half-dozen and 74 more...
-
Mots Fous
Describing the demented--as colorfully as possible.
bats in the belfry, out to lunch, daft, stark ravin' mad, unsound, barmy, nuts but nuts, barking, touched, cracked, doolally, potty and 22 more...
-
by half
half as good as most lists
halfheimers, half time, halfhearted, half a mind to, half nelson, half caf, half and half, half-pint, half-cocked, half-wit, half again, half-crazed and 19 more...
-
Only on Wordie/Wordnik
Okay, mostly on Wordie. But it's more fun here anyway.
brannock device, polari, stupidhead, in toto, nounal, flustrated, stuffocate, firkin, full-assed, placeholder name, pro-text, cheesequake and 408 more...
-
Mad as a March hare
Words to describe the mad, the insane, the... well, me.
unhinged, unglued, mental, fruitcake, lunatic, nutter, potty, dippy, kooky, batty, daft, cuckoo and 20 more...
-
loonie
Inspired by Peter Reading's "Euphemisms".
crackers, potty, loony, bonkers, nutty, screwy, ga-ga, dull, strange, do-lally, dopey, silly and 83 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for half-cocked.
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