cockalorum means A menial yet self-important person; a person who makes empty boasts. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
cockalorum is pronounced /ˈkɒkəˌlɔːɹəm/.
Why “cockalorum” is a great word
COCKALORUM — [Noun] A self-important person, especially one of little consequence who makes empty boasts. Likely from English cock ("rooster") + a fanciful pseudo-Latin suffix -alorum, perhaps influenced by the obsolete Flemish word kockeloeren ("to crow"). First recorded in English 1705–15. Unlike a "braggart," which spotlights the act of boastful speech, or a "pooh-bah," who cloaks himself in a plurality of hollow titles, a cockalorum is the very creature of unwarranted preening. He is the bantam rooster crowing from a dunghill, the minor clerk signing his name with a superfluous flourish, or the man in an ill-fitting uniform issuing commands to no one—a testament to the profound volume that can be produced by a very small chamber of self-regard.
Etymology
Possibly English cock (“rooster”), with -a- and Latin -lorum suffixed as a fanciful elaboration; or from a Dutch onomatopoeic dialect term kockeloeren (“the cry of a rooster; cock-a-doodle-doo”), hence the modern Dutch verb koekeloeren (“to crow”).
noun
- A menial yet self-important person; a person who makes empty boasts.“I remark that everyone (with the exception of such Cockalorums as the Guard, who rather stands on the dignity of his uniform, I imagine) understands the Captain's English, while they don't seem to get on very well with my French.”
- Boastful speech, crowing.“'Sounding grander is not always better,' answered the cobber. 'Did you never hear tell of High Cockalorum?' / 'High Cockalorum! What's that?' / 'It's what they call high footling speech, or a self-important man who likes to call everything by fancy names,' said his master. 'And as I heard it, it didn't do the man in the tale any good at all.'”
- A game similar to leapfrog.“We played cockalorum from one side of the street to the other.”