Western Word of the Week - Half-Cocked - #WesternWordoftheWeek #WesternWednesdays

Howdy!

Thanks for returning to our Western Word of the Day column. The next few weeks I'm drifting a little bit away from what we think of as truly "western" words to focus on some other vocabulary term that I've learned and wanted to share.

Half-Cocked, Go Off Half-Cocked - ill-prepared; premature; impulsive

Another Revolutionary term dealing with Muskets. The operation of a musket was lengthy and had many steps. If the hammer was half-cocked because the user was in a hurry, it would not drop correctly when triggered and would not fire.

Source:
History Channel, "America's Secret Slang" video series
www.history.com/shows/americas-secret-slang