February 9

peacock

\ PEE-kok \  , verb





1. to make a vainglorious display; strut like a peacock.
noun:
1. the male of the peafowl distinguished by its long, erectile, greenish, iridescent tail coverts that are brilliantly marked with ocellated spots and that can be spread in a fan.

2. any peafowl.

3. a vain, self-conscious person.

4. (initial capital letter) Astronomy . the constellation Pavo.


Origin:
Peacock  is formed from the now-obsolete word pea  meaning "peafowl," and cock  meaning "a male of the gallinaceous kind" or "rooster." It entered English at the turn of the 13th century as a noun, and began to be used as a verb in the late 1500s.


Quotes:
…he must have passed for a rich man when he peacocked  about the town in his shaggy purple gown with gold buttons and hoop lace.
-- Katharine Burrill, "Letters of a Peer and a Pork-Packer," Chambers's Journal , Volume VI, 1903
He peacocks  in all his Seventies finery--glitter in his hair, a rhinestone-studded silver suit and as much jewelry as human fingers can hold.
-- Rob Sheffield, "The Rhinestone Closet," Rolling Stone , May 26, 2013