: a male peafowl distinguished by a crest of upright feathers and by greatly elongated loosely webbed upper tail coverts which are mostly tipped with iridescent spots and are erected and spread in a shimmering fan usually as a courtship display
On Saturday and Monday there were more peacock parades.—Hikmat Mohammed, WWD, 8 July 2024 For today’s mission, Alan (peacock feather cap, fur coat — that’s a yes and a yes) instructs the players to divide themselves into two groups.—Molly Fitzpatrick, Vulture, 25 Jan. 2024
Verb
Captain Alan Zaremba of Hollywood specializes in guiding anglers to peacock bass in South Florida as well as in the Amazon River basin in Colombia and Brazil.—Steve Waters, Miami Herald, 7 June 2024 The Romp in Providence drew mostly white Gen X and baby boomer women who each paid $10 to peacock about in Mrs. Roper’s signature look (tight red perm, floor-sweeping caftans, chunky costume jewelry) and compete in trivia and limbo contests.—Erik Piepenburg, BostonGlobe.com, 23 Aug. 2023 See all Example Sentences for peacock
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'peacock.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English pecok, from pe- (from Old English pēa peafowl, from Latin pavon-, pavo peacock) + cok cock
: the male of a very large Asian pheasant having a very long brightly colored tail that can be spread or raised, a small crest of upright feathers on the top of the head, and in most forms brilliant blue or green feathers on the neck and shoulders
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