Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of various grouses of the genus Lagopus, inhabiting arctic, subarctic, and alpine regions of the Northern Hemisphere and having feathered legs and feet and plumage that is brown or gray in summer and white in winter.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A bird of the family Tetraonidæ and genus Lagopus, having feathered feet. The name was originally applied, in Scotland, to L. mutus or alpinus, a bird which formerly inhabited England and Wales as well as Scotland, and is also found in Russia, Scandinavia, the Alps, Pyrenees, etc., and is represented in Iceland, Greenland, Siberia, and North America by a closely allied species, L. rupestris. This bird turns white in winter, like all of the genus Lagopus, excepting L. scoticus, the red grouse, moor-fowl, or moor-game of Great Britain. The willow-grouse, L. albus or saliceti, of sub-arctic distribution in Europe, Asia, and America, L. hemileucurus of Spitzbergen, and L. leucurus of alpine regions in western North America are other ptarmigans. See
Lagopus , and cut undergrouse .
Wiktionary
- n. Any of three species of small grouse in the genus Lagopus found in subarctic tundra areas of North America and Eurasia.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zoöl.) Any grouse of the genus Lagopus, of which numerous species are known. The feet are completely feathered. Most of the species are brown in summer, but turn white, or nearly white, in winter.
WordNet 3.0
- n. large Arctic and subarctic grouse with feathered feet and usually white winter plumage
Etymologies
- From Scottish Gaelic tàrmachan. The pt- comes from a mistaken Greek construction. (Wiktionary)
- Alteration (influenced by the spelling pt in Greek words like pteron, wing) of Scottish Gaelic tarmachan. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“I saw there also a beautiful white bird called a ptarmigan, which is a grouse, but it could not be caught.”
“We were far into the Brooks Range foothills now, at 3,100 feet, and perhaps the altitude would pay bonus points in ptarmigan.”
“The people who worked here followed the ancient custom of nature, whereby the ptarmigan is the color of dead leaves in the fall and of snow in the winter, and the chameleon, who is black when he lies upon a stump and turns green when he moves to a leaf.”
“The enemies of the ptarmigan are the larger birds of prey, and animals of the weasel kind.”
“Among birds, the ptarmigan is a fine example of protective colouring.”
Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection A Series of Essays
“We used to get on to this lande by walking up the bed of a rivulet, and once on it we had perfect massacres of winged game, especially of that sort of gray grouse called ptarmigan by the English.”
“After the soup, we had turbot, and by and by a bottle of Chateau Margaux, very delectable; and then some lambs 'feet, delicately done, and some cutlets of I know not what peculiar type; and finally a ptarmigan, which is of the same race of birds as the grouse, but feeds high up towards the summits of the Scotch mountains.”
“Even medium-sized birds and mammals such as ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus) and hares seek thermal refuges in snow caves when resting.”
“Also, where you are panning most likely you will have grouse and ptarmigan which is great eating and an non-resident small game license is cheap .....”
“There's even one kind of ptarmigan, not around our Caves, but south of us, that doesn't turn white.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ptarmigan’.
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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...
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Words beginning with P
peripatetic, pearlescent, perfunctory, palliate, permafrost, prosthetic, pliant, pluvious, percussion, procrastinate, progeria, prognathism and 49 more...
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Starts with a silent letter
...with grateful thanks to telofy (for "cnidarian"), and to the song "Crazy ABC's" by Barenaked Ladies.
cnidarian, mnemonic, chthonic, ptarmigan, psoriasis, psittacine, bdellium, aisle, czar, gnarly, gnat, gnaw and 82 more...
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More Bird Wirds: North America
Birds endemic to the United States and/or North America.
toucan, peacock, weaver, bullfinch, redpoll, siskin, crossbill, finch, rosy-finch, oriole, cowbird, blackbird and 213 more...
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nachchba's Words
stentorian, blasé, ennui, concinnity, melee, photokeratitis, skiffle, refulgence, mongrel, fakir, caid, eudaimonia and 215 more...
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bilby's Words
pandemic, whirl, guffaw, ethereal, feisty, dunt, ephemeral, pule, flipergebet, prink, maunder, gammon and 1023 more...
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wanderstar's Words
superlative, mulish, mumps, catatonic, aquiline, clandestine, phantasmagoria, chryselephantine, microfiche, mutineer, reprobate, ruthless and 312 more...
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the omnibus
preponderance, idioglossia, acumen, heteronym, flux, anacoluthon, metonymy, impetus, constellation, exegesis, revelatory, cloistered and 877 more...
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Hedgepiglet
Words for things both tangible and nonanthropic
rorqual, vellus, wrasse, rainbow bee-eater, tinkershire, lemonquat, boomslang, tufted vetch, cubeb, nipplefruit, madapple, wad and 447 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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Ned's Words
haruspex, thaumaturg, ptarmigan, pomegranate, crepuscular, svengali, obloquy, eleemosynary, coruscate, trapezoidal, rhinoplasty, drab and 4 more...
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unexpected pronunciation
ptarmigan, ichthyic, chthonic, phthisis, mnemonic, corps, terpsichore, aisle, phlegmy, melpomene, viscount, heifer and 12 more...
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davidtrowbridge's Words
aegis, hirsute, autological, eponymous, subsumption, highbrow, yare, bemuse, copacetic, aubergine, ptarmigan, panacea and 7 more...
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birdie
bird names that are fun to say
coot, grackle, hoatzin, jay, barnacle goose, skua, rook, grosbeak, junco, chickadee, waxwing, nuthatch and 49 more...
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Fave words
papa, ptarmigan, phantasm, tuscany, alloy, pithy, fuselage, grace, crock, allgood, galapagos, clarity and 13 more...
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Words That I Just Like
lagniappe, aposiopesis, o'ertake, polycephaly, Ouroboros, demiurge, fey, diaphanous, mizzenmast, uropygium, estuary, languor and 38 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for ptarmigan.
jennie
On Chicken, Alaska Jul 10, 2009
qroqqa An utterly pointless <p>, by confusion with Greek pter-, to which it is completely unrelated. It's from Scots Gaelic tàrmachan, itself of unclear origin. Jul 10, 2009
yesjustryan /ˈtɑrmɪgən/ Jul 10, 2009