peacocks

Noun

peacock (usually countable, plural peacocks)

1. (usually) A male peafowl, especially Pavo cristatus, notable for its brilliant iridescently ocellated tail.
   • The ſpring diſplaying her elegant taſte, the proud walk of the gold-feathered pheaſant, the light tread of the ſmall-hoofed hind, and the dancing of the ſtar-trained peacock, infuſed joy into the ſoul of the ſpectator of the aſtoniſhing works of the Creator.1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page v
2. (usually) A peafowl (of the genus Pavo or Afropavo), either male or female.
3. (uncountable, usually) The meat of this bird.
   • When a reader recently inquired if people really eat peacock, I stated that I’d never tasted the bird, roasted or otherwise, and as far as I knew, it is rarely cooked anywhere in the world.1979 April 23, Craig Claiborne, “De Gustibus”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC
4. (usually) A pompous or vainglorious person [from the 14th c.].

   Synonyms:

   turkeycock

5. (usually) Any of various Asian species of papilionid butterflies of the genus Papilio.
   • The large and handsome spectre-butterfly, Hestia durvillei; the pale-winged peacock butterfly, Drusilla catops; and the most brilliant and wonderful of the clear-winged moths, Cocytia durvillei, were especially interesting, as well, as several little "blues," equalling in brilliancy and beauty...1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 199

See all 10 meanings of peacock