Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Of, belonging to, or characteristic of the order Galliformes, which includes poultry, pheasants, and grouse.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Having the characters of a bird of the order Gallinæ or Gallinaceæ; rasorial.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective (Zoöl.) Resembling the domestic fowls and pheasants; of or pertaining to the Gallinae.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective zoology related to the genus
galina , poultry; notably said of the orderGalliformes .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective of or relating to or resembling a gallinacean
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The turkey is the largest, and if not the finest, at least the most highly flavored of the gallinaceous family.
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They are gallinaceous birds, about the size of a small fowl, and generally of a dark ashy or sooty colour, and they have remarkably large and strong feet and long claws.
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They are allied to the gallinaceous birds, but differ from these and from all others in never sitting upon their eggs, which they bury in sand, earth, or rubbish, and leave to be hatched by the heat of the sun or by fermentation.
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We are not satisfied with the flavor nature has given to gallinaceous fowls, art has taken possession of them, and under the pretext of ameliorating, has made martyrs of them.
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* Yes, that was a gallinaceous joke. posted by Mungowitz @ 12/24/2004 09:51:00 AM
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I am very fond of second courses, and devoutly believe that the whole gallinaceous family was made to enrich our larders and to deck our tables.
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But as soon as the bird is seen flying, its whole appearance changes; the long pointed wings, so different from those in the gallinaceous order, the irregular manner of flight, and plaintive cry uttered at the moment of rising, recall the idea of a snipe.
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The domestic fowl is a favourite; but, curious to say, neither here nor in any part of tropical Africa known to me have the people tamed the only gallinaceous bird which the Black Continent has contributed to civilization.
Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo 2003
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But as soon as the bird is seen flying, its whole appearance changes; the long pointed wings, so different from those in the gallinaceous order, the irregular manner of flight, and plaintive cry uttered at the moment of rising, recall the idea of a snipe.
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From this character, from the length of its legs, scratching feet, membranous covering to the nostrils, short and arched wings, this bird seems in a certain degree to connect the thrushes with the gallinaceous order.
chained_bear commented on the word gallinaceous
"'And to be sure there is a superficial resemblance to a partridge: though I doubt it is a gallinaceous bird at all.'
'So do I. We call it and its cousin tuya.'
'I believe it is one of Latham's tinamous.'"
--P. O'Brian, The Wine-Dark Sea, 204
March 16, 2008