| 释义 |
▪ I. peacock, n.|ˈpiːkɒk|
Forms: α. 4–6 pecok, -e, (4–5 pekok, 5–6 -cock(e, 5 -cokk(e), 6–7 peacocke, (6 peocock, pyckock), 6– peacock. β. 4 poucok, 4–5 pocok, -koc, pokok(e, 5 pokokke, poocok. γ. 4–6 pacok, (4 -cokke, 4–5 -kok(e, 5 -koc).
[f. ME. *pê:—OE. péa + cock; beside which ME. had pocock, f. pô, poo, and pacock, f. (northern) paa, pa-, both repr. OE. páwa, a. L. pāvo; see po. Cf. the parallel fem. peahen, formerly pohenne, pehen; peafowl is modern.]
1. a. The male bird of any species of the genus Pavo or peafowl, especially of the common species P. cristatus, a native of India, now everywhere domesticated, and well known as the most imposing and magnificent of birds; from this and its strutting gait it is treated as a type of ostentatious display and vainglory.
α1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xii. 240 Þat is þe pekok [v.rr. pacok, -kok, pocok, -kok] & þe pohenne, proude riche men þei bitokneth, For þe pekok, and men pursue hym, may nouȝte fleighe heighe. c1386Chaucer Reeve's T. 6 As eny pecok he was proud and gay. c1440Promp. Parv. 389/1 Pekokke, byrde, pavo, pavus. 1553Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 7 Gold, Siluer, Apes, Peacockes, & Elephantes teeth. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 119 They are as bragge and as proude as pecockes, and iette vp and downe in all places. 1592Davies Immort. Soul xxxiv. viii, Take heed of ouer-weening, and compare Thy peacock's feet with thy gay peacock's traine. 1781Cowper Truth 58 The self⁓applauding bird, the peacock, see—Mark what a sumptuous Pharisee is he! 1819Keats Lamia i. 50 Eyed like a pea⁓cock, and all crimson barr'd. 1883Stevenson Silverado Sq. 142 Happy and proud like a peacock on a rail. 1891Chambers' Encycl. VII. 824/2 Peacock (Pavo)..including at least two species—the Indian and Singhalese P. cristatus, domesticated in Britain and other countries, and the Malayan P. muticus, inhabiting Java, Borneo, and similar regions.
βa1300Sat. People Kildare v. in E.E.P. (1862) 153 F[o]ure and xxti wild ges and a poucok. 1340–70Alex. & Dind. 716 A fair pokok of pris men paien to iuno. c1420Pallad. on Husb. i. 610 The pocok me may rere vp esely. c1475Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 760/38 Hic pavo,..a pocokk.
γc1374pakoc [See b]. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) vii. 25 He has on his heued a creste as a pacok, bot it es mykill mare þan þe creste of a pacok. c1450Holland Howlat 81 That is the plesant Pacok, preciouss and pure. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xlvi. 14 A nychtingall..Quhois angell fedderis as the pacok schone.
b. transf. and fig., esp. referring to the vainglorious habits and ostentation attributed to the bird. to play the peacock, to comport oneself vaingloriously.
c1374Chaucer Troylus i. 154 (210) And yet as proud a pekok [v.r. pakoc] can he pulle. 1538Bale Thre Lawes 526 Thre syppes are for the hyckock, And six more for the chyckock, Thus maye my praty pyckock, Recouer by and by. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. iv. iii. 81. a 1592 Greene Alphonsus v. 1780 Nay then, proud pecock, since thou art so stout [etc.]. 1656Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. 84 Proudly playing the Peacocks, and publikely professing severity. 1745G. Washington Rules of Civility liv, Play not the Peacock, looking everywhere about you, to see if you be well deck't. 1828Sporting Mag. XXII. 134 Ben Champion, a peacock of fox-hunters. 1866Geo. Eliot F. Holt v, How came he to have such a nice-stepping long-necked peacock for his daughter?
c. The bird or its flesh as an article of food.
c1460J. Russell Bk. Nurture 695 For a standard, vensoun rost, kyd, favne, or cony,..pecok in hakille ryally. c1475Sqr. lowe Degre 318 He..serued the kynge..With deynty meates that were dere, With Partryche, Pecoke, and Plouere. a1845Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. iii. Blasphemer's Warn., There were peacocks served up in their pride (that is tails). 1872Tennyson Gareth & Lynette 828 A feast..Held in high hall..And there they placed a peacock in his pride Before the damsel.
2. One of the southern constellations (Pavo).
1674Moxon Tutor Astron. i. iii. §10 (ed. 3) 19 Twelve Constellations.., posited about the South Pole,..3 The Indian, 4 The Peacock, 5 The Bird of Paradise. 1868Lockyer Guillemin's Heavens (ed. 3) 335 The Phœnix, below which, returning to the horizon, and to the meridian, are found Toucan, the Crane, the Indian, and the Peacock.
†3. peacock of the sea, sea p. = peacock-fish.
c1520Andrewe Noble Lyfe iii. lxvii, Pauus maris is the Pecocke of the Se, & is lyke the pecocke of the londe, bothe his backe, necke, & hede, & the nether body is fisshe.
4. Short for peacock-butterfly, peacock-moth.
1827Butterfly Collector's Vade M. 112 Vanessa Io, Peacock. 1832Rennie Consp. Butterfl. & Moths 143 The Peacock (Macaria notata) appears the end of May and beginning of June. 1869E. Newman Brit. Moths 87 The Peacock. Ibid., The Sharp-angled Peacock.
5. Short for peacock-blue. Also attrib. or as adj.
1873L. Troubridge Life amongst Troubridges (1966) viii. 60 A peacock grosgrain and white lace bonnet. 1881C. C. Harrison Woman's Handiwork iii. 165 Peacock, turquoise, celestine, drake's neck, Damascus blue and robin's-egg blue. 1897W. B. Yeats Tables of Law & Adoration of Magi 35 When the peacock curtains had closed behind us. 1922Daily Mail 11 Dec. 14 (Advt.), Frock... In Brown, Lemon, Peacock, Rose, Mauve. 1924C. Mackenzie Heavenly Ladder i. 11 He..sat for awhile on the sweet short grass of Pendhu cliffs, contemplating the peacock sea below. 1963New Yorker 29 June 44 Sizes 8–18. Cranberry, peacock, olive. 1971‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Doctor Bird xii. 166 The sea lay clear as shellac underneath us, jade and turquoise, cerulean and peacock.
6. attrib. and Comb.
a. Of, belonging to, like, or of the nature of a peacock or peacocks; that is (fig.) a peacock; as peacock-behaviour, peacock-Christian, peacock colour, peacock-fool, peacock-green, peacock-grey, peacock-justiciary, peacock pride, peacock ritualism, peacock-slave, peacock-train, peacock-yewtree; peacock-spotted, peacock-voiced, peacock-witted adjs.; peacock-pluming vbl. n.
1894Miss Cobbe Life I. 174 Watching their victim and exploding with glee at his *peacock behaviour.
1642J. Eaton Honey-c. Free Justif. 454 Ape-Saints, and *Peacock-Christians (as Luther truly calleth them).
1598R. Haydocke tr. Lomazzo's Tracte containing Artes of Curious Paintinge, Caruinge, Buildinge iii. x. 110 The shaddowes of the simple and immixt colours of the thirde degree, suppose the aggate colour, are burnt oker, darke blew, *peacocke colour [etc.]. 1611Cotgr. s.v. Gemmé, Couleur gemmée, a pearle, or peacocke colour. 1622Peacham Compl. Gent. (1661) 136 Peacocke colour, i.e. changeable blew, or red blew. 1893Scribner's Mag. June 768/1 Their exquisite pale peacock color is without equal among the eggs of our Eastern birds.
1575Gascoigne Wks., Weedes vi. 281 For thou hast caught a proper paragon A theefe, a cowarde and a *peacocke foole.
1895Proc. Zool. Soc. 264 The fore wings are *peacock-green, black in the centre.
1935Dylan Thomas Sel. Lett. (1966) 153 You write better when you've got someone..sneering when you go purple & using a cruel pencil over your choicest *peacock-greys.
1642J. Eaton Honey-c. Free Justif. 206 Apish Saints, and painted *Peacock-Justiciaries.
1596Nashe Saffron-Walden Wks. (Grosart) III. 179 His *peacocke⁓pluming her like another Pandora..through his incredible praising of her.
1580Sidney Ps. xl. ii, Who bendes not wand'ring eyes To greate mens *peacock pride.
1860Emerson Cond. Life vi. (1861) 122 In creeds never was such levity; witness the heathenisms in Christianity,..the *peacock ritualism.
1609Markham Fam. Whore (1868) 24 Cheaters, braggarts and the *peacock slaue, whose words and cloathes are all the welth they haue.
1820T. Mitchell Aristoph. I. 22 A plague upon these envoys, I hate their *peacock trains.
1883Helen F. Martin in Blackw. Mag. Jan. 10 [Cymbeline's Queen's] handsome *peacock-witted son Cloten.
1864Tennyson En. Ard. 609 The *peacock-yewtree and the lonely Hall.
b. Special combs.: Peacock Alley U.S., the name given to the main corridor of the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, where fashionable people promenaded; hence the main corridor of other hotels; also attrib.; peacock arrow, an arrow furnished with a peacock's feather; peacock-bittern, a name of the South American sun-bittern, Eurypyga helias; peacock-blue, the peculiar lustrous blue of a peacock's neck; peacock butterfly, a European butterfly (Inachis io) with ocellated wings; peacock-coal, iridescent coal; peacock copper, iridescent copper ore (‘peacock ore’), esp. chalcopyrite or bornite: cf. peacock-ore; peacock-eye, the ocellus on a peacock's feather: also attrib.; peacock-fan, a fan made or trimmed with peacock's feathers; peacock-fly, -hackle, an artificial fly dressed with a peacock's feather; peacock-flower, a name applied to two leguminous trees, (a) Poinciana regia (Royal peacock-flower), and (b) Cæsalpinia (Poinciana) pulcherrima (also Flower-fence) (Miller Plant-n. 1884); peacock flower-fence, a leguminous tree, Adenanthera pavonina (ibid.); † peacock-hatter, ‘in the Middle Ages, a plumist or milliner’ (Cent. Dict. 1890); peacock-iris, a bulbous plant of South Africa, Moræa (Vieusseuxia) glaucopis, also known as Iris pavonia; also applied to other species of Vieusseuxia; peacock-moth, Macaria notata and M. alternata, of family Geometridæ; peacock mottle (see quots.); peacock ore, iridescent copper ore; = peacock copper; peacock pheasant, a small, south-east Asian pheasant belonging to the genus Polyplectron, whose markings resemble those of a peacock; peacock-stone (see quots.); peacock-throne, the former throne of the Kings of Delhi, subsequently in the possession of the Shah of Persia, adorned with the representation of a peacock's tail fully expanded, composed of precious stones; peacock treasure-flower, a S. African composite plant, Gazania pavonia, with large orange-coloured flower-heads.
1906N.Y. Times 2 Dec. iii. 7/2 The Waldorf-Astoria is the New York headquarters of Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Brassband, Wisconsin. Its main corridor is known as *Peacock Alley. To sit there five minutes makes a man a representative American. 1925E. Hungerford Story of Waldorf-Astoria vii. 139 The outstanding feature of this ground floor was a huge corridor—in after years to be known, somewhat irreverently, as ‘Peacock Alley’—which was to run practically the entire length of the building, parallel to Thirty-fourth Street. 1930J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel ii. 156 Seedy-respectable or Peacock Alley clothes. 1932L. C. Douglas Forgive us our Trespasses (1937) x. 212 The peacock-alley of the hotel, stuffily scented, was daily, gravely, tallied off for Joan. 1974Washington Post 20 Dec. d8/5 The Carr project included: Total restoration of the Willard's..public rooms and the famous Peacock Alley.
c1386Chaucer Prol. 104 A sheef of *pecok [v.r. pocok] arwes bright and kene Vnder his belt he bar ful thriftily.
1881C. C. Harrison Woman's Handiwork i. 65 The curtains made of *peacock blue, are bordered with..bands of turquoise blue serge. 1882H. P. Grattan in Theatre June 348 Fashion..was carried to the verge of caricature. Crimson and peacock blue stocks, three layers of different coloured under⁓waistcoats, [etc.]. 1886Cassell's Encycl. Dict., Peacock-blue. 1897M. Kingsley W. Africa xxiv. 553 The butterflies..show themselves off in the sunlight, in their canary-coloured, crimson, and peacock-blue liveries. 1968R. H. R. Smithies Shoplifter (1969) vii. 151 An improbable peacock blue evening jacket.
c1760B. Wilkes Eng. Moths & Butterflies iii. i. 55 The *peacock-butterfly. You must look for the Caterpillar that produces this Fly in the great Stinging-Nettle. 1802Bingley Anim. Biog. (1813) III. 209 The Peacock Butterfly. 1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. xxx. 214 The black spinous caterpillars of the common peacock-butterfly (Vanessa Io). 1906R. South Butterflies Brit. Isles 73 Usually the Peacock butterfly assumes the perfect state but once in the year. 1965P. Wayre Wind in Reeds ix. 114 Tortoiseshell and peacock butterflies feed on the nectar. 1976Cumberland News 3 Dec. 8/7 Mr Jack Thirlwell showed his prize winning films on the life style of the swallow tail and peacock butterflies.
1686Plot Staffordsh. 126 The *Peacock-coal..is much softer than the Cannel,..most vividly representing all the colours of the most glorious feathers in a Peacocks trayne.
1858Greg & Lettsom Man. Mineral. Gt. Brit. & Ireland 340 At Great Crinnis, St. Austell, in the neighbourhood of which town the mines produce the finest iridescent massive variety [of chalcopyrite], known as *peacock copper. 1897Slocan (Brit. Columbia) Pioneer 4 Sept. 1/6 The Michigan claim on Toad mountain is showing up well, some very fine grey copper and peacock copper having been encountered. 1937A. F. Rogers Introd. Study Minerals (ed. 3) 300 Chalcopyrite... Color brass yellow, often with an iridescent tarnish, hence the name ‘peacock copper’.
1890Cent. Dict. s.v. Pecock, *Peacock-eye marble, an Italian marble of mingled white, blue, and red color. 1893Spectator 3 June 731 Ornaments..on the train of the peacock,..best described as the ‘peacock-eye’.
a1861Mrs. Browning Christmas Gifts viii, The eyes in the *peacock-fans Winked at the alien glory.
1676Cotton Walton's Angler vii. 325 There is also..the *Peacock-fly: the body made of the whirl of a peacock's feather.
1924G. O. Wheeler Old English Furnit. (ed. 3) xii. 278 Another variety [of mottle in mahogany] was once termed *peacock mottle from its supposed resemblance to the tail of that bird. 1968Canad. Antiques Collector Aug. 24/2 Honeycomb or peacock mottle. This is a variety of figure remarkable for its fine appearance; it is associated almost entirely with the mahoganies.
1860W. A. Miller Elem. Chem. (ed. 2) II. 658 The copper pyrites..or ordinary ore of copper, consists of a double sulphide of copper and iron... The variety, called variegated or *peacock ore, contains a larger proportion of sulphide of copper. 1877Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 310 A large body of fine ‘peacock’ ore. 1890A. J. Vogan Black Police xix. 352 [Australian], The prismatic tints of a material sulphide known to miners by the name of ‘peacock ore’. 1911State (Cape Town) Nov. 487 The ore is principally bornite—peacock-ore as it is often called on account of its beautiful iridescent colouring. 1964H. Hodges Artifacts iv. 65 This group includes..the iron sulphide minerals chalcopyrites (copper pyrites, Cu2Fe2S4) and bornite (peacock ore, Cu5FeS4). 1977A. Hallam Planet Earth 124 (caption) Bornite, an important ore of copper, is often called ‘peacock ore’ for its iridescent tarnish.
1864Proc. Zool. Soc. 373 From Calcutta... 1 *Peacock Pheasant. 1906Macm. Mag. Aug. 779 A peacock-pheasant..ceased its clamour. 1922C. W. Beebe Monogr. Pheasants IV. 55 Peacock pheasants..are birds of the lowland forests. 1964A. L. Thomson New Dict. Birds 627/2 The peacock pheasants Polyplectron spp. form a very distinct genus of small pheasants with long tails and a grey or brown plumage marked with metallic green and purple ocellae on the mantle, wings, and tail.
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., Pavonius-lapis, the *peacock-stone, a name given by Ludovicus Dulcis..Probably it was one of the variegated agates. 1833Penny Cycl. I. 467/1 The cartilages of some large shells..are sold by the jewellers under the name of Peacock-stone, or black opals.
1813J. Forbes Oriental Mem. xxix. III. 84 The most superb article of this imperial spoil was the Tucht-Taoos, or *peacock-throne, in which the expanded tail of the peacock, in its natural size, was imitated in jewellery. 1895Outing (U.S.) XXVII. 53/1 In 1739..Nadir Shah, the Persian ruler, then left Delhi, carrying immense treasures..including the renowned and beautiful peacock throne.
▪ II. peacock, v.|ˈpiːkɒk|
[f. prec. n.]
1. trans. To make like a peacock; to render vain or conceited, to puff up with vanity; esp. refl. to strut about or pose in order to display one's beauty, elegance, or accomplishments; to make a display; to plume oneself.
a1586Sidney Arcadia (1622) 56 A desire onely to please, and as it were, peacock themselues. 1834M. Edgeworth Helen xiv, Pavoneggiarsi! untranslateable. One cannot say well in English, to peacock oneself. 1872Tennyson Gareth & Lynette 702 He was tame and meek enow with me, Till peacock'd up with Lancelot's noticing. 1883Mrs. E. Lynn Linton Ione xviii, He ‘peacocked himself’ not a little on the deftness of his manipulation. 1888― Thro' Long Night iii. v, It is no longer a matter for vanity, for self-gratulation, for self-peacocking.
2. intr.
a. To strut about ostentatiously; to make a vainglorious display, pose. Also to peacock it.
b. Anglo-Ind.: see quot. 1888.
1818Keats Lett. Wks. 1889 III. 112 Every man has his speculations, but every man does not brood and peacock over them till he makes a false coinage and deceives himself. 1826Scott in Q. Rev. XXXIII. 310 How a modern drawingroom would look if filled with courtiers peacocking it about in long sweeping trains. 1867Ruskin Time & Tide xvii, You working men have been crowing and peacocking at such a rate lately. 1888Sir R. Burton in Lady Burton Life (1893) I. vii. 136 Some..preferred ‘peacocking’, which meant robing in white grass clothes and riding..to call upon regimental ladies. 1890J. Middlemass Two False Moves II. vii. 89 People of various nationalities..peacock about in fine feathers.
3. Austral. (See quot. 1898.) Obs. exc. hist.
1898Morris Austral Eng. 344/2 To peacock a piece of country means to pick out the eyes of the land by selecting or buying up the choice pieces and water-frontages, so that the adjoining territory is practically useless to any one else. 1928‘Brent of Bin Bin’ Up Country xxi. 347 They had been able to ‘peacock’ their runs and safeguard their holdings. 1959Baker Drum (1960) i. 14 Droughts and the activities of small selectors who ‘peacocked’ or ‘picked the eyes out of’ the country..capped the pioneers' woes.
Hence ˈpeacocking vbl. n. and ppl. a.
1837Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 17/2 This sort of peacocking in borrowed plumes is no less dangerous than despicable. 1870Daily News 19 Apr., When the ‘peacocking business’ (to use a slang term of military art) was over, the 3rd and 4th divisions..continued their march round the curve of the horse-shoe. 1873R. Broughton Nancy I. 227 Alas! never again shall I see him mount that peacocking steed. 1891Wheeling 25 Feb. 409 He felt that ‘peacocking’ at the Military Exhibition had taken the place of real work on many Saturdays last year. 1894W. Epps Land Syst. Australasia iii. 28 When the immediate advent of selectors to a run became probable, the lessees endeavoured to circumvent them by dummying all the positions which offered the best means of blocking the selectors from getting to water. This system, commonly known as ‘peacocking’, was assisted by the use of Volunteer Land Orders. 1965Austral. Encycl. V. 234/1 Many of the counter-tactics employed by pastoralists were equally indefensible, notably the purchase of sites to prevent selectors from getting to water (‘peacocking’). |