Cox"comb` (k?ks"k?m`), n. [A corrupted spelling of cock's comb.] 1. (a) A strip of red cloth notched like the comb of a cock, which licensed jesters formerly wore in their caps. (b) The cap itself.
2. The top of the head, or the head itself .
We will belabor you a little better,
And beat a little more care into your coxcombs.
Beau & Fl.
3. A vain, showy fellow; a conceited, silly man, fond of display; a superficial pretender to knowledge or accomplishments; a fop.
Fond to be seen, she kept a bevy
Of powdered coxcombs at her levee.
Goldsmith.
Some are bewildered in the maze of schools,
And some made coxcombs, nature meant but fools.
Pope.
4. Bot. A name given to several plants of different genera, but particularly to Celosia cristata, or garden cockscomb. Same as Cockscomb.
© Webster 1913. | 
