| 释义 |
pea·cock
I. \ˈpēˌ ̷ ̷\ noun
Etymology: Middle English pecok, pocok, from pe- (from Old English pēa peafowl) & po- (from Old English pāwa peafowl) + cok cock; akin to Frisian pau peafowl, Old Saxon pāo, Old High German pfāwo, Old Norse pāi; all from a prehistoric West Germanic-North Germanic word borrowed from Latin pavon-, pavo peacock, probably of imitative origin like Greek taōs peacock — more at cock
1. plural also peacock : a male peafowl distinguished by a crest of upright plumules and by greatly elongated loosely webbed upper tail coverts that are mostly tipped with ocellate spots and are erected and spread at will in a fan shimmering with iridescent color; broadly : peafowl — see indian peacock, japanned peacock, javan peacock
2. : one making a proud or arrogant display of himself
< the poodles were the peacocks of the local dog show >
especially : a vainglorious person
< would take the young peacock down a peg — Marguerite Steen >
3. or peacock blue : a variable color averaging a moderate greenish blue that is greener and deeper than Brittany or average colonial blue and deeper and slightly greener than larkspur — called also paon
4. : peacock butterfly
II. verb
(-ed/-ing/-s)
transitive verb
1. : to cause to be like a peacock (as in vainglorious display)
< he may have peacocked it a bit, he supposed he did — William Humphrey >
< attempted to peacock his way through the world — C.S.Bluemel >
2. slang Australia : to pick out or buy the choicest pieces of (land) especially by the use of dummies
intransitive verb
: to make a vainglorious display (as in gait, dress, speech) : pose, strut
< all the girls … were peacocking in their bustles — Flora Thompson >
< my father peacocking about on the lawn — Osbert Sitwell > |