Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Peacock

Pea′cock′ (pē′kŏk′), n. [OE. pecok. Pea- in this word is from AS. peá, pāwa, peacock, fr. L. pavo, prob. of Oriental origin; cf. Gr. ταώς, ταῶς, Per. tāus, tāwus, Ar. tāwuūs. See Cock the bird.] 1. (Zoöl.) The male of any pheasant of the genus Pavo, of which at least two species are known, native of Southern Asia and the East Indies.

☞ The upper tail coverts, which are long and capable of erection, are each marked with a black spot bordered by concentric bands of brilliant blue, green, and golden colors. The common domesticated species is Pavo cristatus. The Javan peacock (P. muticus) is more brilliantly colored than the common species.

2. In common usage, the species in general or collectively; a peafowl.

Peacock butterfly (Zoöl.), a handsome European butterfly (Hamadryas Io) having ocelli like those of peacock. — Peacock fish (Zoöl.), the European blue-striped wrasse (Labrus variegatus); — so called on account of its brilliant colors. Called also cook wrasse and cook. — Peacock pheasant (Zoöl.), any one of several species of handsome Asiatic pheasants of the genus Polyplectron. They resemble the peacock in color.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.