Pop"in*jay (?), n. [OE. popingay, papejay, OF. papegai, papegaut; cf. Pr. papagai, Sp. & Pg. papagayo, It. pappagallo, LGr. , NGr. ; in which the first syllables are perhaps imitative of the bird's chatter, and the last either fr. L. gallus cock, or the same word as E. jay, F. geai. Cf. Papagay.]
1. Zool. (a)
The green woodpecker.
(b)
A parrot.
The pye and popyngay speak they know not what.
Tyndale.
2.
A target in the form of a parrot.
[Scot.]
3.
A trifling, chattering, fop or coxcomb.
"To be so pestered with a
popinjay."
Shak.
© Webster 1913.