peacock

From Middle English pecok, pekok, pocok, pacok, equivalent to pea (“peafowl; peacock”) +‎ cock. Compare Old Norse páfugl (“peacock”, literally “pea-fowl”), and English peahen, peachick, etc.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpikɑk/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpiːkɒk/

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peacock (plural peacocks)

1. A male peafowl, especially Pavo cristatus, notable for its brilliant iridescently ocellated tail.
   • 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:

     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.

2. A peafowl (of the genus Pavo or Afropavo), either male or female.
3. A vainglorious person [from the 14th c.].
4. (entomology) Any of various Asian species of papilionid butterflies of the genus Papilio.

• peafowl (ornithology)

• peachick (“young peafowl”)
• peacock (“male peafowl”)
• peahen (“female peafowl”)

• → Hawaiian: pīkake
  • → English: pikake
• → Maori: pīkake

peacock (third-person singular simple present peacocks, present participle peacocking, simple past and past participle peacocked)

1. (intransitive) To strut about proudly or haughtily.
   • 2014 May 30, Will Butler, “The Mark of Cane”, in The New York Times Magazine‎:

     A routine border-check in upstate New York had turned into a back-room interrogation, and I was worried, because the three friends I was traveling with didn’t respond to authority well. I could almost hear the wry grins cracking their faces as the officers peacocked. “Is U.S. Customs a joke to you?” one officer asked. My friend Alex said, “No law against smiling, sir.”

2. (intransitive) To engage in peacocking, ostentatious dress or behaviour to impress women.

• pajock