most of these citations seem to be late 19th/early 20th century, often in the quoted speech of what are being portrayed as "low class" people. doesn't immediately seem to be localized to a particular location or ethnicity though

@aparrish The context I can glean is that it seems to be a handsome, maybe showy, man who people admire or idealize in a way that seems a bit outsized?

@erinbee yeah I think that's it! it was kipling's use that originally set me down the trail: '"She nearly wrenched the tiller out of my ‘and. Don’t you think I conned ‘er like a cock-angel, Pye?'" (from http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2017/05/23/post-fiction/classic-fiction/steam-tactics-rudyard-kipling.html) which I thought implied that a cock-angel was a con-artist or liar until I realized "conned" is probably meant here to mean "steer" (a boat)

@aparrish @erinbee Not in my Cassell Dictionary Of Slang either, which is normally pretty comprehensive on such things!

@aparrish so strange. I found this too (you made me curious) if it helps at all https://books.google.ca/books?id=JJtDAQAAMAAJ&lpg=PA74&ots=7qnqrR70p1&dq=%22cock-angel%22&pg=PA74#v=onepage&q=%22cock-angel%22&f=false

@keschner oh thanks! that one makes it seem like it just means "attractive man"?

@aparrish I wonder if it's like "cock sparrow" sort of https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cock%20sparrow

@aparrish but with slightly more positive connotations

@keschner yeah—maybe it isn't a set phrase at all but several instances of attributive "cock" in this sense https://mastodon.social/media/S7m4j_PxQQMzPwwfNjU

@aparrish that sounds about right

@aparrish Pretty sure if you look under just "cock" you'll find the general usage.

@aparrish any possible connection to "cocky devil"?

@gamehawk the fact that it was so often hyphenated led me astray from that theory, but yeah looking at the other entries for the attributive use in the OED makes it seem like it might just be adjective+noun