Noun: ostrich
| Singular | ostrich |
| Plural | ostriches |
Sample Sentences
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Could a Taff'ta ſcarf, a long Eſtridge vvhing, / A ſtiffe Iron Doublet, and a Brazeel Pole / Tempt thee from Cambrick ſheets, fine active Thighs, / From Caudles vvhere the precious Amber ſvvims? [1634 (first performance), William D’avenant [i.e., William Davenant], The Wits: A Comedie; […], published 1636; republished in Two Excellent Plays: […], London: […] G. Bedel, and T[homas] Collins, […], 1665, →OCLC, Act I, page 1:]
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The Ostrich hath a compounded name in Greek and Latin—Struthio-Camelus, borrowed from a bird and a beast, as being a feathered and biped animal, yet in some ways like a camel; somewhat in the long neck; somewhat in the foot; and, as some imagine, from a camel-like position in the part of generation. [a. 1683 (date written), Thomas Browne, “[Unpublished Papers.] On the Ostrich.”, in Simon Wilkin, editor, Sir Thomas Browne’s Works […], volume IV, London: William Pickering; Norwich, Norfolk: Josiah Fletcher, →OCLC, page 337:]
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"But is not this fortunate?" continued she, taking up a superb plume of white ostrich feathers, fastened by a small agraffe, enamelled so as to represent a bunch of violets; "this is just what you wanted for the velvet cap you are to wear at Madame de l'Hôpital's masked ball." [1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter II, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 17:]
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The San Juan market is Mexico City's most famous deli of exotic meats, where an adventurous shopper can hunt down hard-to-find critters such as ostrich, wild boar and crocodile. [2013 July 26, Nick Miroff, “Mexico gets a taste for eating insects […] ”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 32:]
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The Lengua Indians of the Gran Chaco love to hunt the ostrich [1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 8, page 245:]
Nouns inflected like ostrich
penniless-bench,
wintergrass,
kitchen pass,
grey fox,
grey box,
trailer hitch,
paleness,
loaded march,
Tush Push,
horribleness,
slaughteress,
chapparvovirus,
greenwax,
royal flush,
crab cactus,
geostress,
syngas,
wintercress,
ichthys,
ichthus, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
From Middle English ostrich, ostriche, ostryche, ostrige, borrowed from Anglo-Norman ostrige and Old French ostruce, from Vulgar Latin *austruthio, from Latin avis (“bird”) + strūthiō (“ostrich”), from Ancient Greek στρουθίων (strouthíōn), or shortened from strūthiocamēlus, from Ancient Greek στρουθοκᾰ́μηλος (strouthokắmēlos), from στρουθός (strouthós, “sparrow”) + κάμηλος (kámēlos, “camel”). Compare Spanish avestruz and Portuguese avestruz. See: Middle English Nouns '
ostrich', Ancient Greek Nouns '
στρουθίων', Spanish Nouns '
avestruz', Portuguese Nouns '
avestruz'.