weathercock

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a weather vane, traditionally shaped like a rooster

   The weathercock turned east as the wind changed.

2. 2
   noun

   a person who readily changes opinions or loyalties

   Critics dismissed the minister as a political weathercock.

From Middle English wetharcoke, a compound of weather and cock. Rooster-shaped vanes were common on church towers; their turning with the wind prompted the figurative sense of an inconstant person.

Topics