cock shot n also cod shot* OED ~ (1842, 1884). A target at which to throw a missile; a shot at the target.
   1875 HOWLEY MS Reminiscences 69 I saw the bottle so placed and by way of a joke, took up a stone and calling out to the others, 'boys, there's a fine cock shot,' pretended I was going to have a shy at it. C 71-86 [The cod-shot] is placed at a distance for the purpose of throwing stones at it. It is sometimes a tin can, placed on a post or left on the ground. Also, if a worker was standing around, wasting his time, his boss might say to him, 'Stop standing there like a cod shot.' P 245-76 I took a cock shot at the tin can on the fence.

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