cock-a-hoop \kah-kuh-HOOP\ adjective
*1 : triumphantly boastful : exulting
2 : awry
Example sentence:
Team members, still cock-a-hoop over last week’s
victory, need to regain their focus and win one more
game for the championship.
Did you know?
The adjective “cock-a-hoop” comes from a curious 16th-
and 17th-century expression, “to set cock a hoop,”
which meant “to be festive” or “to drink or celebrate
without restraint.” Etymologists, however, are not
entirely certain about the origin of that old
expression. Although no one knows if it originally had
any connection with the “rooster” sense of “cock,”
many people thought it did — and this perceived
association influenced the current meaning of
“cock-a-hoop.” The cock is known for its triumphant
crow, and “cock-a-hoop” is now used to refer to
something triumphantly boastful.
(ripped from an old word-of-the-day email forward)