Cockalorum

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A boastful or swaggering person of small stature or minor importance ; a self-important person, especially one whose actions are out of proportion to their position
2. Someone considered a little braggart or pretentious figure ; a person with an exaggerated sense of self-worth, often lacking real influence or size
3. An insignificant but pompous individual ; a person small in status or build who makes grandiose claims or displays undue self-importance

Etymology: "Cockalorum" is a playful word for a small person who makes a great show of self-importance, and its origin is uncertain. One possibility is that it combines English "cock," meaning rooster, with an invented flourish: an "-a-" in the middle and a Latin-sounding "-lorum" tacked on the end, the sort of mock-learned ending that gives a boast a pompous air. The rooster image suits the sense well, since a cock crowing from a dunghill is a small bird making a loud display. The other possibility looks across the North Sea. Dutch has a dialect term, "kockeloeren," that imitates the cry of a rooster, the sort of onomatopoeia that becomes "cock-a-doodle-doo" in English, and it gave rise to the modern Dutch verb "koekeloeren," meaning "to crow." If that is the source, the English word would preserve a crowing sound in its very shape, with the bird's call turned into a description of a strutting, self-congratulating person.

Synonyms: self-important person, show-off, braggart, know-it-all, big shot

Antonyms: humble person, modest person, nobody, underachiever