partridge

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See also: Partridge

English

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Perdix perdix

Etymology

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From Middle English partrich, partriche, pertriche, perdriz, from Old French perdriz, partriz, from Latin perdīx (“partridge”), from Ancient Greek πέρδιξ (pérdix, “partridge”), probably from πέρδομαι (pérdomai, “to fart”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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partridge (plural partridges or partridge)

  1. (ornithology) Any bird of a number of genera in the family Phasianidae, notably in the genera Perdix and Alectoris.
    On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me a partridge in a pear tree.
    • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 80:
      ...and the loudest sound in the lonely fields was when, adventuring too near some late brood, the partridge sought to deceive by a plaintive cry and seeming helplessness, crossing before your very feet, till, when drawn to a sufficient distance, suddenly the air vibrated to the flutter of her active pinions.
  2. (obsolete, military) A type of cannon charge composed of several missiles fired all together, similar to langrage or case-shot. Also a large cannon that shoots stones.

Derived terms

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terms derived from partridge

Translations

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Further reading

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