cockscomb

noun

Etymology: From Middle English cokkes comb; equivalent to cock + -s- + comb.

1. The fleshy red crest of a rooster.
2. A red cap once worn by court jesters.
3. A yellow rattle, Rhinanthus minor (flowering plant native to Eurasia).
4. An annual garden plant (Celosia argentea var. cristata, syn. Celosia cristata), having showy red clusters of flowers.

   “She saw a square picture framed in the window, two whitewashed cottages each with a little winding path, a bed of red and yellow cockscomb, a sloping field, a row of gum-trees, a child in a blue sunbonnet carrying a basket.”

5. A conceited dandy.
6. A serrated cleat once fitted to the yards of a square-rigged ship and used when the sail was being reefed.