peafowl

[ pee-foul ]

noun,plural pea·fowls, (especially collectively) pea·fowl.
  1. any of several gallinaceous birds of the genera Pavo, of India, Sri Lanka, southeastern Asia, and the East Indies, and Afropavo, of Africa.

Origin of peafowl

1
First recorded in 1795–1805; pea (see peacock) + fowl

Words Nearby peafowl

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use peafowl in a sentence

  • The Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus) usually lay their large white eggs on the ground in long grass or thick undergrowth.

  • But there were many different kinds—not alone of hens and roosters; for there were peafowl, and guineas, and ducks, and turkeys.

  • The peafowl is smaller, slenderer, and more graceful than the turkey, and is a little more agile in motion.

    Our Domestic Birds | John H. Robinson
  • The methods of managing turkeys apply at nearly every point to the management of peafowl.

    Our Domestic Birds | John H. Robinson
  • The scarcity of peafowl is not due wholly to the expense of procuring them or to the difficulty of rearing them.

    Our Domestic Birds | John H. Robinson

British Dictionary definitions for peafowl

peafowl

/ (ˈpiːˌfaʊl) /


nounplural -fowls or -fowl
  1. 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 plumage: See peacock (def. 1)

  2. 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