pheasant
English edit
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A common pheasant (sense 1).
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Pheasant (sense 2) as part of a Christmas menu.
Etymology edit
From Middle English fesaunt, fesant, from Old French fesan, from Latin phāsiānus, from Ancient Greek φᾱσιανός (phāsianós), meaning “[bird] of the river Φᾶσις (Phâsis)”, from where, it was supposed, the bird spread to the west. Replaced native Old English wōrhana, a variant of mōrhana. More at moorhen.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
pheasant (countable and uncountable, plural pheasants)
- (countable) A bird of family Phasianidae, often hunted for food.
- 1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page v:
- The ſpring diſplaying her elegant taſte, the proud walk of the gold-feathered pheaſant, the light tread of the ſmall-hoofed hind, and the dancing of the ſtar-trained peacock, infuſed joy into the ſoul of the ſpectator of the aſtoniſhing works of the Creator.
- 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 80:
- Or sometimes, passing too near a sequestered copse, the shy tenants were startled, and the superb plumage of the pheasant dashed aside the branches, and the stately bird soared up on rattling wing.
- (uncountable) The meat of this bird, eaten as food.
- 1989, Allan Gurganus, “Black, White, and Lilac”, in Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, book two (Time Does That), page 231:
- Tables were laid with cold pheasant, watercressy finger foods, sweets sufficient to give the Greater Raleigh Area sugar shock.
- 2013, Stuart Neville, chapter 30, in Ratlines, New York, N.Y.: Soho Crime, →ISBN, page 158:
- Célestin Lainé sat on the edge of the bed, a tray on his lap, eating pheasant and roast vegetables with a red wine reduction.
- 2015, Shauna Roberts, chapter 41, in Ice Magic, Fire Magic, Overland Park, Kan.: Hadley Rille Books, →ISBN, page 266:
- Bring a dish of berries with cream to me there. Bread, too. And a slice of pheasant.
Derived terms edit
- Amherst pheasant
- Billingsgate pheasant
- blood pheasant
- cheer pheasant
- Chinese pheasant
- college pheasant
- common pheasant
- crow pheasant
- Elliot's pheasant
- golden pheasant
- green pheasant
- Impeyan pheasant
- Japanese pheasant
- kalege pheasant
- kalij pheasant
- khalege pheasant
- Lady Amherst's pheasant
- peacock-pheasant
- pea-pheasant
- Pheasant coronavirus
- pheasant coucal
- pheasant cuckoo
- pheasantless
- pheasantlike
- pheasant pigeon
- pheasantry
- pheasant's eye
- pheasant-tailed jacana
- pheasant under glass
- reed pheasant
- Reeves's pheasant
- ring-necked pheasant
- sea-pheasant
- sea pheasant
- silver pheasant
Descendants edit
- → Welsh: ffesant
Translations edit
bird of family Phasianidae, often hunted for food
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