A small, boastful, or self-important person, especially one who acts arrogantly despite being insignificant.
A whimsical 17th-century coinage combining 'cock' with pseudo-Latin 'alorum' (resembling the mock-Latin 'senatum'). Created to mock pretentious or pompous individuals, it became popular in English satire and comic writing.
Writers intentionally invented 'cockalorum' to sound ridiculous and over-the-top—it's a 'mock-Latin' joke word that mimics how pretentious people talk! The suffix '-alorum' doesn't mean anything real; it's just comic wordplay.
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