weathercock

English

noun
Definitions
  • A weather vane, sometimes in the form of a cockerel.
  • (figuratively) One who veers with every change of current opinion; a fickle, inconstant person.
  • (Chiefly US and Canada) A wind pump style where the top of it behaves like a weather vane, moving with the wind direction, but also with a wheel attached to measure wind speed.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English wetharcoke com from English weather (direction from which the wind blows) + English cock (penis, male domestic chicken, a shock pile of grain, diminutive suffix, male, a roundish heap, rooster).

Origin

English

cock

Gloss

penis, male domestic chicken, a shock pile of grain, diminutive suffix, male, a roundish heap, rooster

Concept
Semantic Field

The body

Ontological Category

Person/Thing

Kanji

雄

Emoji

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms