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.
3. A trifling, chattering, fop or coxcomb. “To be so pestered with a popinjay.” Shak.