Meaning of coxcombry | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A behaviour or manner that is characteristic of a coxcomb; a foppish behaviour.
   countable, usually
2. Behaviour or airs characteristic of a coxcomb; foppishness.
   uncountable, usually

Equivalents

Examples

“He was clean⟳ shaved; clean⟳ shaving is a favorite coxcombry of the deacon class.”

“His manner was perhaps the more seductive, / Because he ne'er seem'd anxious to seduce; / Nothing affected, studied, or constructive / Of coxcombry or conquest: no abuse / Of his attractions marr'd the fair perspective, / To indicate⟳ a Cupidon broke loose, / And seem to say⟳, "Resist⟳ us if you can" -- / Which makes a dandy while it spoils a man.”

“He paused, grimly regarding it, while a dash of pleased coxcombry seemed to mingle with the otherwise savage satisfaction expressed in his face⟳.”

“There was a half-sigh floating through his pages for those days of intellectual coxcombry, when ideas come⟳ to us affecting the embraces of virgins, and swear⟳ to us they are ours alone, and no one else have⟳ they ever visited: and we believe⟳ them.”

“A man emasculated by coxcombry may spend⟳ more time upon the arrangement of his clothes than any woman, but even then there is no fetichism in his idea of them--they are still only a covering he uses for a time.”

CEFR level