cockscomb

plural cockscombs · alternative cock's comb · alternative cock's-comb · alternative coxcomb

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.

   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.

   1929, M. Barnard Eldershaw, A House is Built, Chapter VII, Section xi

5. archaicA conceited dandy.

   Synonyms: fop, popinjay, barbermonger, beau, blade, blood, buck, carpet knight

6. nauticalA serrated cleat once fitted to the yards of a square-rigged ship and used when the sail was being reefed.