weathercock
noun
- heraldic figure
Wiktionary
noun
Etymology: From Middle English wetharcoke, weþercok, wedercoc, wederkok, equivalent to weather + cock.
- A weather vane, sometimes in the form of a cockerel.
- One who veers with every change of current opinion; a fickle, inconstant person.
- A kind of wind pump whose top behaves like a weather vane, moving with the wind direction, but which also has a wheel attached to measure wind speed.
verb
Etymology: From Middle English wetharcoke, weþercok, wedercoc, wederkok, equivalent to weather + cock.
- To turn upwind because of the difference in water pressure on two sides.
- To veer into the direction of the oncoming (relative) wind.
- To act as a weathercock for.