Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A genus of extinct large flightless birds native to Madagascar.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A genus of gigantic fossil birds found in Madagascar. The species is named Æpyornis maximus. It was 3-toed like
Dinornis , of similar enormous stature, and is one of the largest known birds. The egg was some 12 or 14 inches long, and of the capacity of 6 ostrich-eggs or about 12 dozen heneggs. The remains are found in very recent deposits, and the bird was probably contemporary with the moa. Æpyornis is the type of a family Æpyornithidæ, related to the Dinornithidæ, of the subclass Ratitæ. Sometimes spelledEpyornis , and even Epiornis; the latter is wholly inadmissible.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A gigantic (to 9 ft.) extinct flightless bird, of which fossils were found in Madagascar.
WordNet 3.0
- n. huge (to 9 ft.) extinct flightless bird of Madagascar
Etymologies
- New Latin Aepyornīs, genus name : Greek aipus, high + Greek ornīs, bird; see or- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Not bad, " he told his companions as he masticated fresh rolls with jam and butter, aepyornis egg, bacon, and fruit.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘aepyornis’.
-
birds
birds with singular names from
at least 9 English dictionariesaasvogel, aberdevine, accentor, accipiter, aepyornis, agami, albatross, alcatras, alcid, alcidine, amadavat, amokura and 1056 more...
-
Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
-
Prehistoric and Extinct Birds
Does not include "protobirds," which are still dinosaurs (and thus are left on my Dinosaurs list). (They are tagged as such for easier identification, though surely I missed a lot of them.)
aquatilavipes, jibeinia, ichthyornis, iberomesornis, hesperornis, eoalulavis, enantiornithes, phororhacos, otogornis, confuciusornis, gastornis, diatryma and 404 more...
-
Still More Bird Wirds
A work in progress....Birds from around the world (other than endemic to North America).
barbet, hornbill, trogon, bee-eater, bristlehead, wren-babbler, stubtail, blackeye, bush warbler, cassowary, bowerbird, bird-of-paradise and 722 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for aepyornis.
reesetee Also called elephant birds, aepyornis were an extinct family of flightless birds comprising the genera Aepyornis and Mullerornis. Mar 4, 2008