coxcomb

From Middle English cokke’s comb.

coxcomb (plural coxcombs)

1. (obsolete) The cap of a court jester, adorned with a red stripe.
2. A foolish or conceited person; a dandy.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter XIII, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. In Six Volumes, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: Printed by A[ndrew] Millar, […], OCLC 928184292, book VII:

     […] for though I am afraid the doctor was a little of a coxcomb, he might be nevertheless very much of a surgeon.

   • 2010, Pseudonymous Bosch, This Isn't What It Looks Like

     And she nearly started a fight between two young fops in plumed hats and flouncy collars: "Clay-brained coxcomb!" "Mewling milk-livered maggot!"

3. The fleshy red pate of a rooster.

• For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:coxcomb.

• cockscomb (3)
• fool (2)
• popinjay

• coxcombical
• coxcombically