: 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
The castle at the center of the island was wrapped in renovation plastic, not in peacock feathers; peacocks did not seethe four thick upon the ground.—Lauren Groff, The Atlantic, 28 Sep. 2024 The peacock feather design is bright and bold, and the gold base adds some shine to your yard.—Shea Simmons, Better Homes & Gardens, 11 Oct. 2024
Verb
The need among small-time meme coin creators to peacock for attention became even more acute when celebrities piled in.—Joel Khalili, WIRED, 12 Sep. 2024 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 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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