Cock-a-hoop

Meaning unbridled joy or exultation, it is first cited for this meaning from the late 17th century, but the origin remains an etymological mystery. The mystery deepens when the OED dates the phrase from the Middle English period (1150-1350) but offers no meaning for what it meant in those far-off days. The OED does give voice to the explanation of Thomas Blount, the lexicographer (1618-1679), where Blount maintains that the ‘cock’ refers to the spigot or stopcock of a barrel of ale and the ‘hoop’ to the metal hoops around said barrel. To be cock-a-hoop, according to Blount, was to leave the ale tap open for unbridled drinking and merriment. This explanation is dubious, especially considering the evidence of tavern names such as The Cock and Hoop or The Cock a Hoop, which date from as far back as The Middle Ages, inn signs for which depict cockerels bestride barrels of ale. The OED’s final word is that the origin remains obscure. Etymologists will no doubt be cock-a-hoop when the true origin is revealed.