blackcock

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   chiefly British: a male black grouse, distinguished by glossy dark plumage and a lyre-shaped tail

   At dawn the blackcock displayed on the open lek before several hens.

A lexicalized compound of black + cock, recorded from the fifteenth century. Cock denotes the male bird; the female black grouse is traditionally called a greyhen.

Topics