n. 1. A beverage made of brandy, whisky, or gin, iced, flavored, and sweetened. [ U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]
2. (Stock Breeding) A horse, not of pure breed, but having only one eighth or one sixteenth impure blood in his veins. Darwin. [ 1913 Webster ]
3. A mean, half-hearted fellow; a coward. [ Slang, Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]
It was in the second affair that poor little Barney showed he was a cocktail. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]
4. (Zool.) A species of rove beetle; -- so called from its habit of elevating the tail. [ 1913 Webster ]