WEATHERCOCK

weathercock

(noun) weathervane with a vane in the form of a rooster

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

weathercock (plural weathercocks)

A weather vane, sometimes in the form of a cockerel.

(figuratively) One who veers with every change of current opinion; a fickle, inconstant person.

(Chiefly US and Canada) A wind pump style where the top of it behaves like a weather vane, moving with the wind direction, but also with a wheel attached to measure wind speed.

Verb

weathercock (third-person singular simple present weathercocks, present participle weathercocking, simple past and past participle weathercocked)

(intransitive, of a boat) To turn upwind because of the difference in water pressure on two sides.

(intransitive, of an airplane or missile) To veer into the direction of the oncoming (relative) wind.

(transitive) To act as a weathercock for.

Source: Wiktionary

Weath"er*cock`, n.

1. A vane, or weather vane; -- so called because originally often in the figure of a cock, turning on the top of a spire with the wind, and showing its direction. "As a wedercok that turneth his face with every wind." Chaucer. Noisy weathercocks rattled and sang of mutation. Longfellow.

2. Hence, any thing or person that turns easily and frequently; one who veers with every change of current opinion; a fickle, inconstant person.

Weath"er*cock`, v. t.

Definition: To supply with a weathercock; to serve as a weathercock for. Whose blazing wyvern weathercock the spire. Tennyson.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition