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peafowl

[pee-foul]
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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.
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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. 2018

Examples from the Web for peafowl

Historical Examples

  • 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.

  • This place literally swarmed with peafowl, partridges, and deer.

British Dictionary definitions for peafowl

peafowl

noun plural -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 plumageSee peacock (def. 1)
  2. a rare closely related African species, Afropavo congensis (Congo peafowl), both sexes of which are brightly coloured
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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