coxcomb
/ˈkɒkskəʊm
/noun
1 archaic A vain and conceited man; a dandy.His manner assures her ‘that he was exactly the coxcomb she had heard him described to be.’...
- Wouldn't that be egg all over the face of the dizzy-eyed coxcomb of a Prime Minister.
- As an afterthought, the red-headed girl suddenly added, ‘Good gracious, that Adam Weatherly is such a coxcomb.’
2 variant spelling of cockscomb (sense 2).
Derivatives
coxcombry
- It is this coxcombry which leads him so often into allegory and objectless personification.
- This insolent condescension - this coxcombry of admiration - more galling than the arrogance of contempt!
- He campily portrayed the obsessed doctor with all the venom and vice and coxcombry he could muster.
Origin
Mid 16th century (denoting a simpleton): variant of cockscomb, in the sense 'jester's cap' (resembling a cockscomb), hence 'a jester, a fool'.