Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of, belonging to, or characteristic of the order Galliformes, which includes the common domestic fowl as well as the pheasants, turkeys, and grouse.
- adj. Relating to or resembling the domestic fowl.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Having the characters of a bird of the order Gallinæ or Gallinaceæ; rasorial.
Wiktionary
- n. related to the genus galina, poultry; notably said of the order Galliformes.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Resembling the domestic fowls and pheasants; of or pertaining to the Gallinae.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. of or relating to or resembling a gallinacean
Etymologies
- From Latin gallīnāceus, of poultry, from gallīna, hen, feminine of gallus, cock; see gal- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“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.”
“The turkey is the largest, and if not the finest, at least the most highly flavored of the gallinaceous family.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“* Yes, that was a gallinaceous joke. posted by Mungowitz @ 12/24/2004 09:51:00 AM”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“Among gallinaceous birds, on the other hand, where the cock is much larger and more pugnacious than the female, and which are polygamous, the cock does not court the female by song, but seizes her by force, and shows little or no interest in his offspring, neither sharing in the brooding nor feeding the young; and even at times seizing any tempting morsel which the young or the hen may have discovered.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘gallinaceous’.
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Adjectival Arcana
A roster of adjectives that infrequently surface in typical conversation and writing. Many are dredged from scientific or other technical jargon or sieved from examples of disused archaic forms.
unitegmic, acaulescent, reticuloendothelial, ingressive, uniate, acanthopterygian, ossific, epiphysial, perivisceral, acœlomatous, cestoid, acælomate and 7762 more...
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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...
chained_bear "'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 Mar 16, 2008