pheasant

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“
And clearly if a pheasant was there he could not be held responsible for the unauthorised acts of his assistants The truth was that Luke was the most thorough-paced poacher in the place--or, rather, he was a wholesale receiver.

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Definitions (38)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun Any of various Old World birds of the family Phasianidae, especially the ring-necked pheasant introduced in North America, characteristically having long tails and, in the males of many species, brilliantly colored plumage.
  2. noun Any of several other birds that resemble the pheasant, such as the partridge.

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Examples (50)

  • Once the pheasant was cooked, Lindsay stripped the flesh from the bones and set about assembling the complicated dish of bastilla: layers of filo pastry, pheasant, flaked almonds, and egg custard. —  Deadline for Murder—Val McDermid—Lindsay Gordon 03
  • A week-old pheasant was also a guest and tolerated the petting and admiration of the group as Mr. Johnson explained pheasant development.
  • While coyotes will not pass up an opportunity to feast on a pheasant, they may help the birds by cutting down the egg-eating animals, Urban said. —  News/local from www.dailyamerican.com
  • THERE'S nothing particularly unusual about waking up to the sound of early morning bird-song, but it's not every day that a pheasant is found peering into a second-floor window on a busy city street.
  • Making a play on the word pheasant doesn't make you Oscar Bloody Wilde. —  British Blogs
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English fesaunt, from Old French fesan, from Latin phāsiānus, from Greek phāsiānos (ornīs), (bird) of the Phasis River, pheasant, from Phāsis, the ancient name for the Rioni River in the Republic of Georgia.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Early modern English also phesant, fesant; from Middle English fesant, fesaunt (with excrescent t), earlier fesaun, from Anglo-French fesant, fesaunt, Old French faisan, French faisan = Provencal faisan, fayhan = Spanish faisan = Portuguese feisão = Italian fagiano, fasano = Dutch fazant = Middle Low German fasant, phasyan = Middle High German fasān, fasant, German fasan (also Old High German fasihuon, Middle High German pfasehan, pfasehuon, simulating huon, hen) (later Bohemian Polish bazhant = Russian bazhantŭ, fasanŭ = Hung, fátzán = Danish Swedish fasan, from Latin phasianus (Middle Latin fasianus), masculine, also phasiana, feminine, from Greek φασιανός, a pheasant, (abbreviation of Latin Phasianus avis, Greek Φασιανός ο%36ρνις, the Phasian bird), from Φασιανός, Phasian, of Phasis, from Φᾶσις, a river in Colchis, near the mouth of which these birds are said to have been numerous.
 

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/ˈfɛzənt/
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