This week's theme: words with hidden animals. coxcomb (KOKS-kom) noun
A conceited man excessively interested in his appearance and dress; a fop. [A variant of cock's comb (a rooster's crest).] Jesters in medieval courts wore a cap with red strips like those in a rooster's crest. From there the sense of the term extended to a vain, pretentious dandy. Today we would describe him as metrosexual. Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=coxcomb -Anu Garg (garg wordsmith.org) "At this general assembly of coxcombs, fops and the world's greatest dunces, Theobald, an unsuccessful writer, is crowned 'Chief of the Dunces'." Fame Ndongo's Pyrrhic Victory; Peterkins Manyong; The Post (Buea, Cameroon); Jan 16, 2007. Sponsored by: Get down to brass tacks, put in your two cents. Try Derivation, a fascinating game about word and phrase origins. A great gift! http://entspire.com Calling all spellers! Join the Kirkland Adult Spelling Bee, Washington, USA Feb 28, 2006. Call Kirkland Library 425.822.2459 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] (a public service announcement) ............................................................................ Many are concerned about the monuments of the West and the East- to know who built them. For my part, I should like to know who in those days did not build them- who were above such trifling. -Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862) Send your comments to (words AT wordsmith.org). To unsubscribe, update address send gift subscription, etc., visit http://wordsmith.org/awad/subscriber.html Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/coxcomb.wav http://wordsmith.org/words/coxcomb.ram Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/coxcomb.html This message was sent to "[email protected]".
