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In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. Preface to 1828 Dictionary
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PE'ACOCK, n. [L. pavo.] A large and beautiful fowl of the genus Pavo, properly the male of the species, but in usage the name is applied to the species in general. The feathers of this fowl's tail are very long, and variegated with rich and elegant colors. The peacock is a native of India.
The male of any pheasant
of the genus Pavo, of which at least two species are known,
native of Southern Asia and the East Indies.
* The upper tail coverts, which are long and capable of erection, are each marked with a black spot bordered by concentric bands of brilliant blue, green, and golden colors. The common domesticated species is Pavo cristatus. The Javan peacock (P. muticus) is more brilliantly colored than the common species. In common usage, the species in general or
collectively; a peafowl.
Peacock butterfly (Zoöl.), a handsome European butterfly (Hamadryas Io) having ocelli like those of peacock. -- Peacock fish (Zoöl.), the European blue-striped wrasse (Labrus variegatus); -- so called on account of its brilliant colors. Called also cook wrasse and cook. -- Peacock pheasant (Zoöl.), any one of several species of handsome Asiatic pheasants of the genus Polyplectron. They resemble the peacock in color. | ||||||||