Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Peacock |
PeacockNoun1. European butterfly having reddish-brown wings each marked with a purple eyespot. 2. Male peafowl; having a crested head and very large fanlike tail marked with iridescent eyes or spots. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "peacock" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Bible | Peacock (Heb. tuk, apparently borrowed from the Tamil tokei). This bird is indigenous to India. It was brought to Solomon by his ships from Tarshish (1 Kings 10:22; 2 Chr. 9:21), which in this case was probably a district on the Malabar coast of India, or in Ceylon. The word so rendered in Job 39:13 literally means wild, tumultuous crying, and properly denotes the female ostrich (q.v.). Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary. |
Dream Interpretation | For persons dreaming of peacocks, there lies below the brilliant and flashing ebb and flow of the stream of pleasure and riches, the slums of sorrow and failure, which threaten to mix with its clearness at the least disturbing influence. For a woman to dream that she owns peacocks, denotes that she will be deceived in her estimate of man's honor. To hear their harsh voices while looking upon their proudly spread plumage, denotes that some beautiful and well-appearing person will work you discomfort and uneasiness of mind. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Literature | Peacock Let him keep peacock to himself. Let him keep to himself his eccentricities. When George III. had partly recovered from one of his attacks, his Ministers got him to read the King's Speech, but he ended every sentence with the word "peacock." The Minister who drilled him said that peacock was an excellent word for ending a sentence, only kings should not let subjects hear it, but should whisper it softly. The result was a perfect success: the pause at the close of each sentence had an excellent effect. By the peacock! A common oath which at one time was thought sacred. The fabled incorruptibility of the peacock's flesh caused the bird to be adopted as a type of the resurrection. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The Peacock (Inachis io) is a well-known colourful butterfly, found in temperate Europe and Asia. The species is resident in much of its range, often wintering in buildings or trees. It therefore often apears quite early in spring.
Peacock Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Insecta Order: Lepidoptera Superfamily: Papilionoidea Family: Nymphalidae Genus: Inachis Species: io This large butterfly is identified by its striking eye pattern on a ruddy background, although with wings closed the cryptically coloured underwings make it look like a dead leaf.
The caterpillars, which are shiny black with barbed spikes, feed on nettles and hops. The adult butterflies feed on a wide variety of flowering plants, including buddleia, sallows, dandelions, wild marjoram, danewort, hemp agrimony, and clover; they also utilize tree sap and rotten fruit.
The Peacock can be found in woods, fields, meadows, pastures, parks, and gardens, and from lowlands up to 8,200 feet elevation. It is the most common butterfly seen in parks and gardens.
larger image
There is also a bird called a Peacock
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Peacock (butterfly)."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Peacock
An Indian Peacock displaying.
Larger versionScientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Galliformes Family: Phasianidae Genus: Pavo Species Pavo cristatus
Pavo muticus
Reference:
World Birds Taxonomic List
as of 2003-02-21The peafowl are the two species of bird in the genus Pavo of the pheasant family, Phasianidae.
They are most notable for the male's extravagant tail, which it displays as part of a mating ritual and to attract attention. The male is called a peacock, the female a peahen.
Male peacocks are a beautiful iridescent blue-green colour, and their tails have a series of 'eyes' that are displayed when he fans his tail.
The female plumage is a mixture of dull green and iridescent blue, with the greenish-grey predominating. They lack the long tails of the male.
The Indian Peafowl, Pavo cristatus, is native to that country and Sri Lanka. The Green Peafowl, Pavo muticus, breeds from Myanmar east to Java. The two species will hybridise.
Indian Peahen with chicks
There is also a Peacock butterfly.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Peafowl."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
PEACOCK | Danish | Programmeludvikling under anvendelse af moduler,som udføres sideløbende | Computing |
PEACOCK | Dutch | Programmatuurontwikkeling met behulp van simultaan uitvoerbare modules | Computing |
PEACOCK | English | Software development using concurrently executable modules | Computing |
PEACOCK | French | Développement de logiciel utilisant des modules exécutables en parallèle | Computing |
PEACOCK | German | Softwareentwicklung mit Benutzung gleichzeitig ablaufender Bausteine | Computing |
PEACOCK | Italian | Sviluppo di software mediante moduli eseguibili in parallelo | Computing |
PEACOCK | Portuguese | Desenvolvimento de suporte lógico utilizando módulos executáveis em paralelo | Computing |
PEACOCK | Spanish | Desarrollo de equipo lógico utilizando módulos ejecutables concurrentemente | Computing |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonym: PeacockSynonym: peacock butterfly (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Beauty | Pea butterfly; garden; flower of, pink of; bijou; jewel; (ornament); work of art. |
Ostentation | Adjective: ostentatious, showy, dashing, pretentious; janty, jaunty; grand, pompous, palatial; high-sounding; turgid; (big-sounding); gairish, garish; gaudy, gaudy as a butterfly, gaudy as a tulip; flaunting, flashing, flaming, glittering; gay; (ornate). |
Pride | Haughty lofty, high, mighty, swollen, puffed up, flushed, blown; vainglorious; purse-proud, fine; proud as Lucifer; bloated with pride. |
Vanity | Adjective: vain, proud as a peacock; conceited, overweening, pert, forward; vainglorious, high-flown; ostentatious; puffed up, inflated, flushed. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Peacock |
| English words defined with "peacock": Bird of June, Bird of Juno ♦ Flabellum ♦ Harl ♦ Pajock, Pavone, Pavonian, Pavonine, Peacock butterfly, Peacock pheasant, Pocock ♦ Rasorial. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "peacock": Hundred-eyed ♦ INAUSPICIOUSLY ♦ Junonian Bird ♦ NYP SHOP ♦ Pabana, Platitude, Prick the Garter ♦ regalia ♦ Stuck-up People ♦ Vain as a Peacock. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "peacock": Pocock. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Peacock" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Manx (peacock, peafowl), Portuguese (PEACOCK, Software development using concurrently executable modules). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Clever | A peacock has too little in its head and too much in its tail. (references; author: Swedish Proverb) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
References | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Walker Cove, Alaska F. L. Peacock Commanding. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |  | Fred Peacock on the MARINDUQUE. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |
 | Mrs. Peacock being carried ashore from small boat She accompanied her husband on ship during his tour as commanding officer Off the MARINDUQUE. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection. |  | Peacock flounder - Bothus lunatus. Credit: The Coral Kingdom. |
 | Proud as a peacock with two tails. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | The Peacock Room, Freer Gallery, Washington, D.C. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Peacock window. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Manhattan Beach Coast Guard training station. Eulance Peacock, member of the 1930 American Olympic Team and co-holder with Jesse Owens of the world's 100-yard dash record, leads a class in sitting up exercises at Manhattan Beach Coast Guard training stati. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Birds. Peacock (head looking to left). Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Delhi - private audience hall which once contained the famous Peacock Throne - Palace of the Moguls. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Peacock butterfly" by Russell Jones Commentary: "Peacock butterfly." | "Peacock feathers" by Velda Christensen Commentary: "The peacock was unwilling to display his feathers as he should, and even when he did I had a hard time catching a good angle. But the feathers themselves are quite interesting, I think." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Play | Caption |
 | Peacock honking and gobbling. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Swedish Proverb | A peacock has too little in its head and too much in its tail. |
Thomas Love Peacock | The waste of plenty is the resource of scarcity. |
| A book that furnishes no quotations is no book -- it is a plaything. | |
| Marriage may often be a stormy lake, but celibacy is almost always a muddy horse pond. | |
| I never failed to convince an audience that the best thing they could do was to go away. | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | Taking orders in a soft low voice, calling them to the cook with a screech like a peacock. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Walker, D., and Peacock, M. (1988). Laboratory diagnosis of rickettsial diseases. (references) | |
Ormsbee, R., Peacock, M., Gerloff, R., Tallent, G., and Wilke, D. (1978). Limits of rickettsial infectivity. (references) | ||
Dupuis, G., Peter, O., Peacock, M., Burgdorfer, W., and Haller, E. (1985). Immunoglobulin responses in acute Q fever. (references) | ||
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | REGALIA, n. Distinguishing insignia, jewels and costume of such ancient and honorable orders as Knights of Adam; Visionaries of Detectable Bosh; the Ancient Order of Modern Troglodytes; the League of Holy Humbug; the Golden Phalanx of Phalangers; the Genteel Society of Expurgated Hoodlums; the Mystic Alliances of Georgeous Regalians; Knights and Ladies of the Yellow Dog; the Oriental Order of Sons of the West; the Blatherhood of Insufferable Stuff; Warriors of the Long Bow; Guardians of the Great Horn Spoon; the Band of Brutes; the Impenitent Order of Wife-Beaters; the Sublime Legion of Flamboyant Conspicuants; Worshipers at the Electroplated Shrine; Shining Inaccessibles; Fee-Faw-Fummers of the inimitable Grip; Jannissaries of the Broad-Blown Peacock; Plumed Increscencies of the Magic Temple; the Grand Cabal of Able-Bodied Sedentarians; Associated Deities of the Butter Trade; the Garden of Galoots; the Affectionate Fraternity of Men Similarly Warted; the Flashing Astonishers; Ladies of Horror; Cooperative Association for Breaking into the Spotlight; Dukes of Eden; Disciples Militant of the Hidden Faith; Knights-Champions of the Domestic Dog; the Holy Gregarians; the Resolute Optimists; the Ancient Sodality of Inhospitable Hogs; Associated Sovereigns of Mendacity; Dukes-Guardian of the Mystic Cess-Pool; the Society for Prevention of Prevalence; Kings of Drink; Polite Federation of Gents-Consequential; the Mysterious Order of the Undecipherable Scroll; Uniformed Rank of Lousy Cats; Monarchs of Worth and Hunger; Sons of the South Star; Prelates of the Tub-and-Sword. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Peacock" is generally used as a noun (proper) -- approximately 66.17% of the time. "Peacock" is used about 399 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (proper) | 66.17% | 264 | 18,152 |
| Noun (singular) | 33.83% | 135 | 27,360 |
| Total | 100.00% | 399 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "peacock" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Peacock | Last name | 8,000 | 1,609 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
| Country | Name | Country | Name |
| United Kingdom | The Peacock Group PLC | USA | Peacock Financial Corporation |
| (more examples...) |
Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.
Expressions using "peacock": as vain as a peacock ♦ peacock blue ♦ Peacock butterfly ♦ Peacock fish ♦ peacock flower ♦ peacock flower fence ♦ peacock ore ♦ Peacock pheasant ♦ Peacock Throne ♦ proud as a peacock. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "peacock": peacock-blue, peacock-coloured, Peacock-edwards, peacock-feathered, Peacock-gordon, peacock-shaped, peacock-throne. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
peacock | 2,189 | golf peacock | 23 |
peacock picture | 149 | peacock suite resort | 21 |
peacock bass | 122 | nbc peacock | 21 |
peacock alley | 89 | alice lyrics peacock | 18 |
alice peacock | 88 | nissan peacock tom | 17 |
peacock feathers | 62 | gary peacock | 16 |
peacock suite | 57 | eggs peacock | 15 |
bird peacock | 55 | peacock eel | 15 |
peacock sale | 43 | chair peacock | 14 |
peacock bass fishing | 39 | peacock art | 14 |
amazon peacock bass fishing | 38 | peacock suite anaheim | 14 |
orchid peacock | 37 | the peacock inn | 13 |
peacock raising | 33 | peacock alley linen | 13 |
information peacock | 33 | peacock pic | 12 |
peacock photo | 32 | peacock clipart | 12 |
peacock tattoo | 30 | cadillac peacock tom | 12 |
white peacock | 29 | peacock cichlid | 11 |
in park peacock | 25 | peacock sound | 11 |
charlie peacock | 25 | peacock blue | 11 |
peacock feather | 24 | peacock care | 11 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "peacock"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | Pallua (lyrebird), Karabush (featherbrain), Fryhem Si Pallua. (various references) | |
Arabic | مدعي (feigned, ostentatious, snot), طاووسة (peafowl), طاووس, الطاووس, شخص مغرور (rooster, smart aleck). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | Пуяк, Позирам, Перча Се, Паунов, Паун, Надут човек, Надувам Се. (various references) | |
Chinese | 孔雀 . (various references) | |
Czech | Páv (peafowl), Nadutec. (various references) | |
Danish | PEACOCK (Software development using concurrently executable modules). (various references) | |
Dutch | pauw. (various references) | |
Esperanto | pavo. (various references) | |
Faeroese | páfuglur. (various references) | |
Farsi | مزین به پرطاووس , طاووس , خرامیدن (Gait, Lope, Stalk). (various references) | |
Finnish | riikinkukko, neitoperhonen (peacock butterfly). (various references) | |
French | Paon (peafowl). (various references) | |
Frisian | pau. (various references) | |
German | Pfau. (various references) | |
Greek | βανέσσα η Iώ (peacock butterfly), παγώνι (peafowl), παγόνι, Ταώσ, ταώς, Παγώνι. (various references) | |
Hebrew | ָוס. (various references) | |
Hungarian | páva (peafowl). (various references) | |
Indonesian | merak. (various references) | |
Italian | Pavone (peafowl). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | ビル風 (binding, bingo, eddies of wind around high buildings, foot fastening, green pepper, pea coat, pea jacket, peace, peach, peahen, peak, peanut, peanut butter, peanuts, peas, peek, peep show, Peeping Tom, people, people's capitalism, Peter Pan syndrome, Piaget, pianica, pianist, piano, piano and harmonica, piazza, piece, piecework, piercer, pimento, PR, public relations, Russian food, velvet, village, vintage, vintage year), 孔雀 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ピーコック , くじゃく. (various references) | |
Manx | peacock (peafowl), kellagh eairkagh, kellagh aalin. (various references) | |
Papiamen | pòwis. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | eacockpay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | pavão (peafowl). (various references) | |
Romanian | Pãun (pea fowl), Filfizon (coxcomb, Dandy, dandyish, dude, fop, jackanapes, Johnny, La-di-da, macaroni), Înfumurat. (various references) | |
Russian | Павлин, Важничать, павлин (bird of Juno, peafowl). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | paun (peafowl), kočoperiti se (perk), šepuriti se (prance, strut, swagger). (various references) | |
Spanish | pavo real (peafowl). (various references) | |
Swedish | påfågel (peafowl, peahen). (various references) | |
Turkish | Züppe (adonis, beau, buck, conceited pup, coxcomb, dandified, Dandy, dude, fop, high hat, jack-a-dandy, jackanapes, La-di-da, la-di-dah, macaroni, nob, petit-maitre, popinjay, pup, puppy, snob, spark, swell, toff), Tavuskuşu (peafowl, peahen), Gösteriş Meraklısı Tip. (various references) | |
Turkmen | tawus. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | чванитися (plume oneself, puff, swagger), Позувати, Павич. (various references) | |
Vietnamese | màu biếc cánh trả (peacock blue). (various references) | |
Welsh | paun. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | Nymphalis io, Nymphalis io geisha, pavi, pavo, Vanessa io. (various references) |
| Old English | 450-1100 | pawa. (various references) |
| Middle English | 1100-1500 | po. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "peacock": peacocked, peacockier, peacockiest, peacocking, peacockish, peacocks, peacocky. (additional references) | |
| |
"Peacock" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Eatock, Pakok, paycock, Paycocke, Peacocke, Pecock, percoco, Piasecka, Piasecki, Pidcock, Pincock, Pococke, Texcoco. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "peacock" (pronounced pē"kÄ'k) |
| 3 | -k Ä' k | Haycock, Woodcock. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-c-e-k-o-p" | |
-1 letter: copeck. | |
-2 letters: acock. | |
-3 letters: cake, cape, capo, ceca, coca, coke, cope, pace, pack, peak, peck, pock, poke. | |
-4 letters: ace, ape, cap, cep, cop, kae, kea, kep, koa, kop, oak, oca, oka, oke, ope, pac, pea, pec. | |
-5 letters: ae, ka, oe, op, pa, pe. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-c-e-k-o-p" | |
+1 letter: peacocks, peacocky. | |
+2 letters: peacocked. | |
+3 letters: peacockier, peacocking, peacockish. | |
+4 letters: peacockiest. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Sounds 10. Quotations: Familiar 11. Quotations: Fiction 12. Quotations: Non-fiction | 13. Usage Frequency 14. Names: Frequency 15. Names: Company Usage 16. Expressions | 17. Expressions: Internet 18. Translations: Modern 19. Translations: Ancient 20. Abbreviations | 21. Acronyms 22. Derivations 23. Rhymes 24. Anagrams | 25. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
