To pamper, indulge, or treat someone with excessive fondness; to coddle.
From cocker (to indulge or pamper, possibly derived from the treatment of fighting cocks or pet roosters) + -ing (present participle). The root 'cocker' developed in Early Modern English as people used their valued fighting birds as a metaphor for pet-keeping.
People who owned prize fighting roosters treated them like celebrities—special food, careful grooming, protective housing. The word 'cockering' preserves this idea: when you're 'cockering' someone, you're treating them like a valuable, prized fighting bird rather than letting them develop naturally.
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