peacock flower (pe kokflou"er)

1. Atree of Madagascar, Poinciana regia, with twice-pinnate leaves, and racemes of showy orange-colored or yellowish flowers having long richly colored stamens.-2. Same as flower - fence. peacock-hatter (pēʻkok-hat'er), n. In the middle ages, a plumist or milliner. Peacock ( Pavo cristatus ). largest of the gallinaceous birds, and in full dre is the most magnificent of all birds. The gorgeous train which consists of an extraordinary ma of upper tail-coverts, constitutes its chief ornament is often four feet long, and not true tail-feathers, which latter the train overlies and far outreaches. These tail-coverts are elegantly formed of spray-like decomposed webs enlarged and recomposed at the end, and marked with glittering ocelli or "eyes." This whole ma of plumage is capable of being erected smaller and more plainly feathered, without the train. The peacock was sacred, among the Greeks and Romans, to Hera or Juno, but is now commonly regarded as the symbol of vainglory and as a bird of ill omen. The flesh is edible, like that of other gallinaceous birds. The cry is extremely loud and harsh. See Pavo, japanned; also cut under ocellate. peag, peak (pēg, pēk), n. [Amer. Ind.] Among the North American Indians, in colonial days, a sort of money consisting of beads made from the ends of shells, rubbed down and polished and strung into belts or necklaces, which were valued according to their length and the perfection of their workmanship. Black or purple peag was worth twice as much as white, length for length. Peak is of two sorts, or rather of two colors, for both are made of one shell, though of different parts; one is a dark purple cylinder, and the other a white; they are both made in size and figure alike, and commonly much resembling the English bugles, but not so transparent nor Beverley , Virginia, iii. 46. IMG:content-2506.jpg:[blocks in formation]