cock-a-leekie

American

[kok-uh-lee-kee] / ˌkɒk əˈli ki /

noun

Scottish Cooking.

a soup made with chicken broth, chopped leeks, and sometimes a little oatmeal.

cock-a-leekie British

/ ˌkɒkəˈliːkɪ /

noun

a variant of cockieleekie

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of cock-a-leekie

1765–75; variant of cockie-leekie, equivalent to cock ¹ + -ie + leek + -ie

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

I came home with a thrilling variety, including chicken gumbo, red lentil and cock-a-leekie, which inspired this recipe.

From Washington Post • Mar. 16, 2023

And one of my favorite new-to-me chicken soup variations is Scottish cock-a-leekie.

From New York Times • Jan. 28, 2022

He insisted on cock-a-leekie, which became one of the firm's bestsellers.

From BBC • Feb. 3, 2015

The reply was, that he was not to be spoken withal, being then employed in cooking a mess of cock-a-leekie for the king's own mouth.

From The Fortunes of Nigel by Scott, Walter, Sir

We put up the after-tent, lit the stove, and prepared at once to cook dinner—an Irish stew, made of a rabbit, rent in pieces, and some bacon, with sliced potatoes—a kind of cock-a-leekie.

From The Cruise of the Land-Yacht "Wanderer" Thirteen Hundred Miles in my Caravan by Stables, Gordon

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023