cockalorum

noun

1. (countable)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.”

   “A Trifle from Your Own Cockalorum, Dyngwell the Dragoon. […] Come round me, my gay Cockalorums, / And list to your own Militaire, / Who'll stand you a dozen of jorums, / And sing you a rum-ti-tum air.”

   “Senator Lt.-Col. GOULD.—The honorable senator does not regard the members of the Commission as infallible? / Senator GIVENS.—I do not. I think that the Chairman of the Commission is inclined to look upon himself as a sort of tin god—the Lord High Cockalorum of the Commonwealth, to whom everyone must bow down.”

   “[I]t was—and, unfortunately, in the eyes of many remains—a land of Cockalorums (necessarily self-important small men) in search of Cockaigne: for today, the insistence by impoverished Guyanese on their rights to dignity and to the benefits of the modern world are too often interpreted by many of their own countrymen and by foreigners as apparent continuations of searches for personal aggrandizement and luxury without effort—as a Guyanese lady of mixed race put it—"buying prosperity."”

2. (uncountable)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.'”

3. (uncountable)A game similar to leapfrog.

   “We played cockalorum from one side of the street to the other.”