apteryx


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ap·ter·yx

 (ăp′tə-rĭks′)
n.
See kiwi.

[New Latin Apteryx, genus name : a- + Greek pterux, wing; see pet- in Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

apteryx

(ˈæptərɪks)
n
(Animals) another name for kiwi1
[C19: from New Latin: wingless creature; see apterous]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ki•wi

(ˈki wi)

n., pl. -wis.
1. any of several flightless, nocturnal, ratite birds comprising the order Apterygiformes, of New Zealand.
2. Also called ki′wi•fruit` (-ˌfrut) the egg-sized edible berry of the Chinese gooseberry, having fuzzy brownish skin and green flesh.
3. Informal. a New Zealander.
[1825–35; < Maori]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.apteryx - nocturnal flightless bird of New Zealand having a long neck and stout legsapteryx - nocturnal flightless bird of New Zealand having a long neck and stout legs; only surviving representative of the order Apterygiformes
flightless bird, ratite, ratite bird - flightless birds having flat breastbones lacking a keel for attachment of flight muscles: ostriches; cassowaries; emus; moas; rheas; kiwis; elephant birds
genus Apteryx - type genus of the Apterygidae: kiwis
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
References in classic literature ?
If about a dozen genera of birds had become extinct or were unknown, who would have ventured to have surmised that birds might have existed which used their wings solely as flappers, like the logger-headed duck(Micropterus of Eyton); as fins in the water and front legs on the land, like the penguin; as sails, like the ostrich; and functionally for no purpose, like the Apteryx. Yet the structure of each of these birds is good for it, under the conditions of life to which it is exposed, for each has to live by a struggle; but it is not necessarily the best possible under all possible conditions.
Successful ventriculostomy for removal of foreign bodies in a kiwi (Apteryx australis mantelli Barlett).
2003: A DNA test for sex assignment in kiwi (Apteryx spp.).
2010), Kakapo Strigops habroptilus (Lloyd and Powlesland 1994) and Little Spotted Kiwi Apteryx owenii (Jolly and Colbourne 1991).
ANKARA (CyHAN)- A museum which is home to 560 various kinds of chess sets with characters such as Bush, Saddam, Smurfs, Apteryx, Harry Potter, Red Kit, Lord of the Rings and Ecanakkale victory as listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.
This review was published in the Egoist in March 1918 and signed with one of Eliot's pseudonyms, Apteryx, a device that permitted him to author more than one piece in an issue without eliciting comment.