Cockscomb

Alternative forms

• coxcomb

Full definition of cockscomb

Noun

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 cristata, having showy red clusters of flowers
• 1929, M. Barnard Eldershaw, , Chapter VII, Section xiShe 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