| 释义 |
coxcomb|ˈkɒkskəʊm|
[= cockscomb.]
†1. A cap worn by a professional fool, like a cock's comb in shape and colour; = cockscomb 2. Obs.
1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 24 He..shall striue for a coxcome, and thriue as a daw. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. ii. i. 226 What is your Crest, a Coxcombe? 1605― Lear i. iv. 116 Fool. If thou follow him, thou must needs weare my Coxcombe.
†2. A ludicrous appellation for the head; = cockscomb 3. Obs.
1599Shakes. Hen. V, v. i. 57 The skinne is good for your broken Coxcombe. 1601― Twel. N. v. i. 193 If a bloody coxcombe be a hurt, you haue hurt me. 1624Ford Sun's Darling iii. i, The knight broke his coxcomb. 1694Southerne Fatal Marr. i. i, To score him over the Coxcomb. 1704W. S. Perry Hist. Coll. Amer. Col. Ch. I. 181 Where each one drank a lusty dose His Stupid Coxcombe to dispose To form the accusation. 1866C. Kingsley Herew. II. xiv. 242 Who may have seen them come in..with bleeding coxcombs.
3. A fool, simpleton (obs.); now, a foolish, conceited, showy person, vain of his accomplishments, appearance, or dress; a fop; ‘a superficial pretender to knowledge or accomplishments’ (J.).
1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 147 His looke like a coxcombe, vp puffed with pride. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 2 It were the part of a madman or a coxcome to runne headlong without any profite into danger. 1599Shakes. Hen. V, iv. i. 79. 1604 ― Oth. v. ii. 234 Oh murd'rous Coxcombe, what should such a Foole Do with so good a wife? 1667Pepys Diary (1879) IV. 236 A vain coxcomb he is, though he sings and composes so well. a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. xvi. (1843) 867/2 Oliver..was a brave fellow..but that Richard, that coxcomb..was surely the basest fellow alive. 1712Arbuthnot J. Bull iii. vi, I told him, ‘He was a coxcomb, always pretending to be wiser than his companions!’ 1765Goldsm. Double Transform. 54 Fond to be seen she kept a bevy Of powdered coxcombs at her levy. 1803Mackintosh Def. Peltier Wks. 1846 III. 259 Those shallow, atheistical coxcombs whom his satire was intended to scourge. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, Char. Wks. (Bohn) II. 58 The young coxcombs of the Life Guards.
†b. Applied to a woman. Obs.
1634Massinger Very Woman iii. ii, Cuculo. You tried my wife. Alas! you thought she was foolish..you have not found it. Pedro. I have found a pair of coxcombs. 1752Fielding Amelia vii. iv, [Mrs. Bennet speaking] Latin..said [my aunt] had made me a downright coxcomb.
†4. As a name of various plants; = cockscomb 5.
1578[see cockscomb 5 a]. 1678Phillips, Coxcomb, a sort of Herb, otherwise called Yellow Rattle. 1756Sir J. Hill Herbal 119 Coxcomb, Pedicularis. The flower consists of a single petal, and approaches to the labiated kind.
†5. ? A kind of lace with an edging like a cock's comb. Obs.
1693Lond. Gaz. No. 2862/4 A Point Nightrail 3 quarters deep, middle-siz'd flowers and Coxcomb loops. 1760C. Johnston Chrysal xi. (D.), To trim his light grey frock with a silver edging of coxcomb.
6. attrib. and Comb.
a. simple attrib.
1782J. Warton Ess. Pope II. xii. 309 The conceit of coxcomb-pyes and coxcombs, sink it below the original. 1794Mathias Purs. Lit. (1798) 327 Tir'd and jaded with the coxcomb strains. 1838–9Hallam Hist. Lit. vi. iii. §67. III. 326 The easy dupes of coxcomb manners from the court. 1848Clough Amours de Voyage i. 144 In coxcomb exultation, Here in the garden I walk.
b. Comb., as coxcomb-hunting; coxcomb-proof adj.; † coxcomb-bird, a parrot.
1681Otway Soldier's Fort. iii. i, One would imagine you were gone a coxcomb-hunting by this time. 1763Rowe Ulyss. Prol. i. 18 She was coxcomb proof. 1732Pope Ep. Cobham 5 The coxcomb Bird, so talkative and grave.
Hence various nonce-wds. coxcombˈalities, pl. things coxcombical. ˈcoxcombess, a female coxcomb. ˈcoxcombhood, the condition or status of a coxcomb. ˈcoxcomby a., belonging to or characteristic of a coxcomb.
1831F. Trollope Dom. Manners Amer. xxx. (1839) 281 Nick nacks, bronzes, busts, cameos, and alabaster vases..in short, all the coxcomalities of the drawing-room. 1827Lamb Let. to Barton 4 Dec., Would to the fifth heaven no coxcombess had invented Albums! 1845Blackw. Mag. LVIII. 243 In the potent prime of coxcombhood. 1885Ibid. 641/2 A costume condemned as coxcomby. |