Cocking a snook

Posted by R. Berg on March 02, 2003

In Reply to: Cocking a snook posted by Fred on March 01, 2003

: "...[the Oxford Union's] support for Amercia was just a way of cocking
: a snook at the French." (New York Times, 2/28/3)
: How do you get from "cocking" and "snook" to "thumbing your nose"?

As this one's mostly British, I've deferred to our friends on Greenwich time, but they haven't kprovided an explanation. Webster's Second Unabr. defines "snook" as the nose-thumbing gesture, origin uncertain. Cocking one would be aiming it at somebody.

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