Sage n. Bot. (a) A suffruticose labiate plant (Salvia officinalis) with grayish green foliage, much used in flavoring meats, etc. The name is often extended to the whole genus, of which many species are cultivated for ornament, as the scarlet sage, and Mexican red and blue sage. (b) The sagebrush.
Meadow sage Bot., a blue-flowered species of Salvia (Salvia pratensis) growing in meadows in Europe.
Sage cheese, cheese flavored with sage, and colored green by the juice of leaves of spinach and other plants which are added to the milk.
Sage cock Zool., the male of the sage grouse; in a more general sense, the specific name of the sage grouse.
Sage green, of a dull grayish green color, like the leaves of garden sage.
Sage grouse Zool., a very large American grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), native of the dry sagebrush plains of Western North America. Called also cock of the plains. The male is called sage cock, and the female sage hen.
Sage hare, or Sage rabbit Zool., a species of hare (Lepus Nuttalli syn. Lepus artemisia) which inhabits the arid regions of Western North America and lives among sagebrush. By recent writers it is considered to be merely a variety of the common cottontail, or wood rabbit.
Sage hen Zool., the female of the sage grouse.
Sage sparrow Zool., a small sparrow (Amphispiza Belli, var. Nevadensis) which inhabits the dry plains of the Rocky Mountain region, living among sagebrush.
Sage thrasher Zool., a singing bird (Oroscoptes montanus) which inhabits the sagebrush plains of Western North America.
Sage willow Bot., a species of willow (Salix tristis) forming a low bush with nearly sessile grayish green leaves.
Cock n.
1. The male of birds, particularly of gallinaceous or domestic fowls.
2. A vane in the shape of a cock; a weathercock.
Drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks! --Shak.
3. A chief man; a leader or master. [Humorous]
Sir Andrew is the cock of the club, since he left us. --Addison.
4. The crow of a cock, esp. the first crow in the morning; cockcrow. [Obs.]
He begins at curfew, and walks till the first cock. --Shak.
5. A faucet or valve.
Note: ☞ Jonsons says, “The handle probably had a cock on the top; things that were contrived to turn seem anciently to have had that form, whatever was the reason.” Skinner says, because it used to be constructed in forma critæ galli, i.e., in the form of a cock's comb.
6. The style of gnomon of a dial.
7. The indicator of a balance.
8. The bridge piece which affords a bearing for the pivot of a balance in a clock or watch.
Ball cock. See under Ball.
Chaparral cock. See under Chaparral.
Cock and bull story, an extravagant, boastful story; a canard.
Cock of the plains Zool. See Sage cock.
Cock of the rock Zool., a South American bird (Rupicola aurantia) having a beautiful crest.
Cock of the walk, a chief or master; the hero of the hour; one who has overcrowed, or got the better of, rivals or competitors.
Cock of the woods. See Capercailzie.