COXCOMB • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Coxcomb

Translators

Dictionaries

Courses

Other

Home

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

Listen

noun

Coxcomb n.

(a)

A strip of red cloth notched like the comb of a cock, which licensed jesters formerly wore in their caps.

(b)

The cap itself.

The top of the head, or the head itself. "We will belabor you a little better, And beat a little more care into your coxcombs."

A vain, showy fellow; a conceited, silly man, fond of display; a superficial pretender to knowledge or accomplishments; a fop. "Fond to be seen, she kept a bevy Of powdered coxcombs at her levee." "Some are bewildered in the maze of schools, And some made coxcombs, nature meant but fools."

(Bot.) A name given to several plants of different genera, but particularly to Celosia cristata, or garden cockscomb. Same as Cockscomb.

See images of 'Coxcomb'

Etymology of 'Coxcomb'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Coxcomb" Quotes from Famous Books

... that passion when felt for a worthy object;—their eye is captivated, the exterior pleases, the heart and mind are not known, and, after six months union, they are surprised to find the beau ideal metamorphosed into a fool or a coxcomb. This is the issue of what are ordinarily called love-matches, because they are considered as such. "Cupid is indeed often blamed for deeds in which he has no share." In the opinion of the wise, the ...

— The Young Lady's Mentor - A Guide to the Formation of Character. In a Series of Letters to Her Unknown Friends • A Lady

... Sons, To-day is a prodigious coxcomb, but To-morrow is a very poltroon, taking fright at the big words of his predecessor. To-day is the truculent captain of old world comedy, To-morrow the ...

— Cousin Pons • Honore de Balzac

... the reader suppose that he was either a superannuated coxcomb or a driveling dotard. He was a man of sense and feeling, but his passion for Julia had, for the time, changed all his manner and habits.—He saw that she was a young and lovely woman, about to give ...

— City Crimes - or Life in New York and Boston • Greenhorn

... coxcomb Czar,[316] The Autocrat of waltzes[317] and of war! As eager for a plaudit as a realm, And just as fit for flirting as the helm; A Calmuck beauty with a Cossack wit, And generous spirit, when 'tis not frost-bit; ...

— The Works of Lord Byron - Poetry, Volume V. • Lord Byron

... unfold themselves to any one that might love her enough to give them a true welcome. She was nearly as far out of Richard's understanding as beyond that of the good Theodora. The consequence was that he felt himself full beside her emptiness. He was no coxcomb, neither dreamed of presenting himself for her admiration; but he pictured the delight of opening the eyes of this child-woman to the many doors of treasure-houses that stood ...

— There & Back • George MacDonald

More quotes...