cassowary
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of cassowary
1605–15; by uncertain mediation < Central Moluccan kasuwari, kasuwali
Explanation
A cassowary is a large flightless bird that's related to an emu. Cassowaries are native to parts of Australia and New Guinea. Though the cassowary is shorter than its leggy emu relatives, these birds are actually heavier — second only to the ostrich. Cassowaries are brightly colored and have a distinctive casque, or helmet, on top of their heads, which some biologists suspect helps the birds amplify a deep "boom" sound they often make. They're also incredibly shy, and difficult to spot in the wild. Cassowary is from the Papuan kasu weri, "horned head."
Vocabulary lists containing cassowary
Australia and New Zealand - Introductory
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Australia and New Zealand - Middle School and High School
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Birds, Birds, Birds, List 2
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Before 2021, the hatching of Cassowary chicks in the UK was relatively rare.
From BBC • Sep. 8, 2024
This isn’t easy: Cassowary nests are often quite difficult to find and guarded by unforgiving males, and the eggs have an incubation period of about 50 days.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 28, 2021
The new video from young producer, multi-instrumentalist and singer Miles Shannon, who performs as Cassowary, finds the Inglewood-born artist and a two-man rhythm section playing a jazz-funkish stutter-step beat in the desert.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 22, 2020
Related: Everything you need to know about the Australian election with Snitty the Cassowary | First Dog on the Moon How do elections work in Australia and what’s at stake?
From The Guardian • May 9, 2016
Hood was as merry as the morning itself, and talked ceaselessly as they rolled through the country, occasionally bidding Cassowary slow down and give heed to his discourse.
From The Madness of May by Steele, Frederic Dorr
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
