Pop"in*jay (?), n. [OE. popingay,
papejay, OF. papegai, papegaut; cf. Pr.
papagai, Sp. & Pg. papagayo, It. pappagallo, LGr.
&?;, NGr. &?;; in which the first syllables are perhaps imitative of
the bird's chatter, and the last either fr. L. gallus cock, or
the same word as E. jay, F. geai. Cf.
Papagay.]
1. (Zoöl.) (a) The
green woodpecker. (b) A parrot.
The pye and popyngay speak they know not
what.
Tyndale.
2. A target in the form of a parrot.
[Scot.]
3. A trifling, chattering, fop or
coxcomb. "To be so pestered with a popinjay."
Shak.