peacock a male peafowl, which has brilliant blue and green plumage and very long tail feathers that have eye-like markings and can be erected and expanded in display like a fan; in Greek mythology, the ‘eyes’ were those of the hundred-eyed Argus, placed there by Hera after Hermes killed him. The bird is proverbially taken as the type of an ostentatious, proud, or vain person; it may also be taken as a bird of ill-omen.

In the fable of the borrowed plumes, a jay or jackdaw is said to have decked itself in peacock's feathers in an unsuccessful attempt to impress.

In Hindu tradition, a peacock may be shown as the mount of the war-god Skanda.

Mrs Peacock is the name of one of the six stock characters constituting the murderer and suspects in the game of Cluedo.
Peacock Alley the main corridor of the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, so called because fashionable people paraded there.
peacock in his pride in heraldry, a peacock represented as facing the spectator with the tail expanded and the wings drooping.
Peacock Throne the former throne of the Kings of Delhi, later that of the Shahs of Iran, adorned with precious stones forming an expanded peacock's tail. The throne was taken to Persia by Nadir Shah (1688–1747), king of Persia, who in 1739 captured Delhi and with it the Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-noor diamond.
peacock's feather a long tail feather of the peacock, used figuratively as a symbol of ostentation or vainglory. It was traditionally believed that to bring a peacock's feather into the house would invite ill-luck.

PEACOCK

PEACOCK , bird called ταως in Greek and tavvas in the Mishnah. The peacock (Pavo cristatus) is a ritually clean bird (see *Dietary Laws) belonging to the pheasant family. In mishnaic times some wealthy people in Ereẓ Israel bred the peacock as an ornamental bird and even ate it on occasion, its head in particular being regarded as a great delicacy (Shab. 130a). According to the Tosefta (Kil. 1:8), "chicken, peacock, and pheasant, although resembling one another, are each heterogeneous with the other." A poetic comment on the peacock's beauty is given in the Midrash (Tanḥ. B., Lev. 33; cf. Gen. R. 7:4): "Although the peacock comes from a drop of white matter, it has 365 different colors, as many as the days in a year." The peacock originates from India, from where, it is suggested, Alexander the Great imported it into Europe. The tukkiyyim conveyed to Solomon in ships of Tarshish (i Kings 10:22; ii Chron. 9:21) are most probably to be identified with peacocks, called in Tamil togai, tokai, an identification found also in ancient translations. In modern Hebrew tukki is mistakenly used to denote a parrot.

bibliography:

Lewysohn, Zool, 189f., no. 241; F.S. Bodenheimer, Animal and Man in Bible Lands (1960), 121, 125; J. Feliks, Kilei Zera'im ve-Harkavah (1967), 118f., 129–32; idem, Animal World of the Bible (1962), 60.

[Jehuda Feliks]

pea·cock / ˈpēˌkäk/ • n. a male peafowl, which has very long tail feathers that have eyelike markings and that can be erected and expanded in display like a fan. ∎  an ostentatious strutting person: these young men have always considered themselves the peacocks of Europe.• v. [intr.] display oneself ostentatiously; strut like a peacock: he peacocks in front of the full-length mirror.

peacock (peafowl) Any of several species of birds of Asia and Africa. The male is called a peacock and the female a peahen, but peacock has become the common name for both sexes. The male has a 150cm (60in) tail, which it can spread vertically as a semi-circular fan with a pattern of eye-like shapes. The body of the male may be metallic blue, green or bronze, depending on the species. Hens are almost as big as the males; they lack the tail and head ornaments, and are brown, red or green. In the wild, peafowl inhabit open, lowland forests, and roost in trees. Length of body: 75cm (30in). Family Phasianidae; genera Pavo and Afropavo.

peacock XIV. ME. pecok, f. OE. pēa (— L. pāvō) + COCK1.
So peahen XIV.