cockscomb

English
Celosia argentea var. cristata, syn. Celosia cristata

Alternative forms
  • cock's comb
  • cock's-comb (archaic)
  • coxcomb

Etymology

From Middle English cokkes comb; equivalent to cock +‎ -s- +‎ comb.

Noun

cockscomb (plural cockscombs)

  1. The fleshy red crest of a rooster
  2. A red cap once worn by court jesters
  3. A yellow rattle, Rhinanthus minor (flowering plant native to Eurasia)
  4. An annual garden plant (Celosia argentea var. cristata, syn. Celosia cristata), having showy red clusters of flowers
    • 1929, M. Barnard Eldershaw, A House is Built, Chapter VII, Section xi:
      She saw a square picture framed in the window, two whitewashed cottages each with a little winding path, a bed of red and yellow cockscomb, a sloping field, a row of gum-trees, a child in a blue sunbonnet carrying a basket.
  5. (archaic) A conceited dandy
  6. (nautical) A serrated cleat once fitted to the yards of a square-rigged ship and used when the sail was being reefed

Derived terms

Translations
Rhinanthus minor — see yellow rattle
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