peafowl

[pee-foul]

noun, plural pea·fowls, (especially collectively) pea·fowl.

any of several gallinaceous birds of the genera Pavo, of India, Sri Lanka, southeastern Asia, and the East Indies, and Afropavo, of Africa.

Compare peacock, peahen.

Origin of peafowl

1795–1805; pea (see peacock) + fowl

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for peafowl

Historical Examples of peafowl

Of these perhaps the longest in domestication is the peafowl.
Domesticated Animals
Nathaniel Southgate Shaler
Peafowl, their behaviour at the approach of rain—I. 115, 266; II.
The Kath Sarit Sgara
Somadeva Bhatta
Peafowl are objects of veneration in all the Native States of Rajputana.
Jungle Folk
Douglas Dewar
This plain was covered with wild indigo, and abounded with peafowl.
The Rifle and The Hound in Ceylon
Samuel White Baker
This place literally swarmed with peafowl, partridges, and deer.
The Rifle and The Hound in Ceylon
Samuel White Baker

British Dictionary definitions for peafowl

peafowl

noun plural -fowls or -fowl

either of two large pheasants, Pavo cristatus (blue peafowl) of India and Ceylon and P. muticus (green peafowl) of SE Asia. The males (peacocks) have a characteristic bright plumageSee peacock (def. 1)

a rare closely related African species, Afropavo congensis (Congo peafowl), both sexes of which are brightly coloured

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012