popinjay
Plural: popinjays
Noun
- A vain, conceited person who dresses or acts showily.
- a vain and talkative person (chatters like a parrot)
- an archaic term for a parrot
- A parrot.
- A decorative image of a parrot on a tapestry, cloth etc.
- A vain, gaudy person; someone who is shallow or superficial.
- A target to shoot at, typically stuffed with feathers or plumage.
- The green woodpecker, Picus viridis.
Examples
- The popinjay at the next Scrabble table kept gloating about his trivial wins, much to everyone’s annoyance.
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English popinjay, popyngeay, popingay, popejay, from Anglo-Norman papegai, papejoie et al., (northern) Old French papejai (“parrot”), probably from Old Occitan papagay (compare Occitan papagai, Catalan papagai), ultimately from Arabic بَبْغَاء (babḡāʔ, “parrot”), of imitative origin.
Synonyms
Jemmy-Jessamy, barbermonger, beau, blade, blood, buck, carpet knight, cockscomb, dandy, dike, dood, dude, dudelet, exquisite, fashionable, fast man, fine gentleman, fop, foretop, fribble, gallant, go, jack-a-dandy, jetter, macaroni, masher, metrosexual, mignon, peacock, petit maître, popinjay, pretty boy, prig, puss-gentleman, smart, spark, spiff, swell, tippy, toff
Scrabble Score: 22
popinjay: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordpopinjay: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
popinjay: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary