(Bot.) A plant (Celosia cristata), of many varieties, cultivated for its broad, fantastic spikes of brilliant flowers; sometimes called garden cockscomb. Also the Pedicularis, or lousewort, the Rhinanthus Crista-galli, and the Onobrychis Crista-galli.
... Gentlemen took off their coats and took up their battledores. Their gibes and quirks are all printed in my edition, and are better reading than the book itself. Coryat was a cockscomb and scorned a straight sentence. A rule of his was: "Never use one adjective if three will do." So far as I know he was the first Englishman who travelled for the fun or the glory of the thing, unless Fynes Moryson anticipated him ... — In a Green Shade - A Country Commentary • Maurice Hewlett
...
