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weathercock

weathercock

1 8.3
A metal rooster on a roof that shows which way the wind blows
  • noun
  • /ˈwɛðərˌkɒk/
translation icon : veleta
  • Like did you know the word "vane" comes from the Old English "fana", - which means flag or weathercock?

But I mean, how, how valuable is that as a pledge he, he makes a, he makes a weathercock look, look like signpost.

Examples

  • He's as beautiful as a weathercock, yes.

  • Flight of long screams rose from the weathercocks.

  • - What a weathercock Sir Harry is.

  • He is as beautiful as a weathercock, remarked one of the Town Councillors."

  • Not five miles away, at a place where you could see the weathercock on the steeple in Alvesta, they found him dead beside the road.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • Those weathercocks tell the wither of the winds directions.

  • Ernie, weathercock?

  • The weathercock on the barn roof turned swiftly as the wind changed direction.

  • In the storm, the weathercock spun rapidly, indicating the strong gusts from the east.

  • The old church had a beautiful weathercock that gleamed in the sunlight.

Synonyms

weathervane
vsweathercock
1 5.6

A thing on a roof that turns to show which way the wind blows

is the same device but specifically shaped like a rooster
wind vane
vsweathercock
  • Specialized
3.9

A thing on a roof that turns to show which way the wind blows

is the specific form of that device usually shaped as a rooster

Surface Forms

weathercock singular
weathercocks plural

Morphology

weathercock = weather + cock (semi-transparent) = weather + cock

The components 'weather' and 'cock' are clear, but the specific conventional object (a rooster-shaped weathervane) is a cultural/artefact meaning that may not be fully predictable for all learners.

Etymology

Weathercock comes from two simple words, weather ('the sky and wind') and cock ('rooster'). Picture a rooster on a roof that turns to show which way the wind blows, and that is why a weathercock is a weathervane used to show wind direction.