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copying vbl n also cobbying*, cockeying, conkying*, coodying*, coonying*
DC ~ Nfld (1933-). See COPY.
1 In a children's
pastime, the action of leaping from one piece of floating ice to another as the
participants follow or copy the leader.
1889 Nineteenth
Cent xxv, 513-14 The youth of Newfoundland look forward to the arrival of the ice for
their spring pastime of 'copying'. . . It is not every pan that will bear any weight; a
plucky and experienced leader is therefore desirable. The youths follow in the single
file, jumping from pan to pan in the fashion of the old game of 'follow-my-leader.' 1895
J A Folklore viii, 38 ... cockeying at Harbor Grace, copying in St
John's, describing an amusement of boys in spring, when the ice is breaking up, of
jumping from cake to cake, in supposed imitation of the sealers. 1895 Dial Notes
i, 378 ~ jumping from piece to piece ... of floating ice that is not large enough to
bear, until you reach one that is. 1937 DEVINE 39 Randy—any noisy fun: 'Copying'
over buckly ice, snow sliding, etc. 1967 READER 1 Arctic ice fills all bays and harbours
on the N.E. Coast during the spring, and the boys jumping from pan to pan call this
copying or quibbing. 1969 MOWAT 39 The woman made her way on foot ('copying,' they call
it) across the floe-ice to the land. C 70-12 If you were jumping from one big pan
of ice to another, it was not considered copyin'. It was only copyin' where there was
danger. M 71-91 Cockying was played during the spring thaw. Several blocks of ice about
four feet square were cut and left floating. The boys ... dared each other to run the
length of them.
2 The action of running over ice-pans, esp
during the seal-hunt.
1883 Fish Exhibit Cat4 175
~ i.e., running across Channel over small pans of ice. 1889 Nineteenth
Century xxv, 514 The term 'copying,'. . is now applied to the mere act of progressing
from pan to pan of ice where no game is in question, so that one may often hear a man
announce that he is going 'to copy out' to such and such a vessel or point.
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