Miller wrote: “For persons dreaming of peacocks, there lies below the brilliant and flashing ebb and flow of the stream…” Compare 5 historical dream books.
Compare the historical accounts
These are the authors’ historical interpretations. Their forecasts and period judgments are preserved as source material, not as predictions or established meanings for your dream.
Gustavus Hindman Miller
Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted; Or, What’s in a Dream · Gutenberg #926; bibliography identifies the 1901 original and subsequent reprints
Peacock · Heading 1511; source lines 17122–17136 · Text transcription
Original source (English)
For persons dreaming of peacocks, there lies below the brilliant and flashing ebb and flow of the stream of pleasure and riches, the slums of sorrow and failure, which threaten to mix with its clearness at the least disturbing influence.
For a woman to dream that she owns peacocks, denotes that she will be deceived in her estimate of man's honor.
To hear their harsh voices while looking upon their proudly spread plumage, denotes that some beautiful and well-appearing person will work you discomfort and uneasiness of mind.
Felix Fontaine
The Golden Wheel Dream-book and Fortune-teller · 1862
Peacock · Heading 558; source line 3650 · Text transcription
Original source (English)
To dream of this proud bird, is a sign of poverty; if you imagine that he spreads his tail, and exhibits all his finery, so much the worse. For a girl to dream of a peacock, shows that she will have an empty-headed fop for a lover, who will turn out to be as poor as a rat.
A. H. Noe
The Witches' Dream Book; and Fortune Teller · New York, Henry J. Wehman, 1885
Peacock · Dream section, heading 416; source lines 1558–1563 · Text transcription
Original source (English)
To dream of seeing this beautiful bird, is a very good omen. It denotes great success in trade. To a man, a very beautiful wife, much riches, and a good place. To a maid, a good and rich husband. To a widow, that she will be courted by one who will tell her very fine tales without being sincere. It also denotes prosperity by sea and a handsome wife in a distant port.
Astra Cielo
Fortunes and Dreams · New York, George Sully, 1917
Peacock · Dream section, heading 313; source lines 4616–4618 · Text transcription
Original source (English)
Foretells victory.
Katherine Taylor Craig
The Fabric of Dreams: Dream Lore and Dream Interpretation, Ancient and Modern · New York, E. P. Dutton & Company, 1918; original US edition
Peacock · Printed p. 242; NLM OCR lines 11315–11325 · OCR transcription
Original source (English)
To see one spreading its tail denotes wealth and a handsome wife; for a woman this is a dream forecasting the promotion of her husband to popular favor. To a young woman it symbolizes vanity and the attempted seduction by a coxcomb (Gypsy). The early Christians held it as the symbol of immortality. It was also the bird of Juno, who cursed whosoever should pluck its feathers; their children should never be well, nor should men come for their daughters; hence the superstition attached to these feathers. The modern symbol of pomp and vanity.
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Attributed historical writing. Historical claims are not established predictions or universal psychological meanings. Updated 2026-10-12. Read our approach and sources.