pop·in·jay
Audio Help [pop-in-jey] Pronunciation Key
Audio Help [pop-in-jey] Pronunciation Key –noun
| 1. | a person given to vain, pretentious displays and empty chatter; coxcomb; fop. |
| 2. | British Dialect. a woodpecker, esp. the green woodpecker. |
| 3. | Archaic. the figure of a parrot usually fixed on a pole and used as a target in archery and gun shooting. |
| 4. | Archaic. a parrot. |
[Origin: 1275–1325; ME papejay, popingay, papinjai(e) < MF papegai, papingay parrot < Sp papagayo < Ar bab(ba)ghā'
]
] | Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. |
popinjay
To learn more about popinjay visit Britannica.com
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| pop·in·jay
Audio Help (pŏp'ĭn-jā') Pronunciation Key
n. A vain, talkative person. [Middle English, parrot, from Old French papegai, from Spanish papagayo or Old Provençal papagai, both from Arabic babġā', babaġā', from Persian babbaghā.] |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
popinjay
1270, "a parrot," from O.Fr. papegai (12c.), from Sp. papagayo, from Ar. babagha', from Pers. babgha "parrot," possibly imitative of its cry. Used of people in a complimentary sense (in allusion to beauty and rarity) from c.1310; meaning "vain, talkative person" is first recorded 1528. Obsolete fig. sense of "a target to shoot at" is explained by Cotgrave's 2nd sense definition: "also a woodden parrot (set up on the top of a steeple, high tree, or pole) whereat there is, in many parts of France, a generall shooting once euerie yeare; and an exemption, for all that yeare, from La Taille, obtained by him that strikes downe" all or part of the bird.
| Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper |
| popinjay | |
noun | |
| 1. | a vain and talkative person (chatters like a parrot) |
| 2. | an archaic term for a parrot |
| WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University. |
Popinjay
Pap"a*gay\, n. (Zo["o]l.) See Popinjay, 1 (b) .| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
popinjay
popinjay: in CancerWEB's On-line Medical Dictionary
| On-line Medical Dictionary, © 1997-98 Academic Medical Publishing & CancerWEB |
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