granivorous

American  

[gruh-niv-er-uhs] / grəˈnɪv ər əs /

adjective

1. (of an animal, especially a bird) eating grain and seeds.

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granivorous British  

/ ˈɡrænɪˌvɔː, ɡræˈnɪvərəs /

adjective

1. (of animals) feeding on seeds and grain

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Other Word Forms

• granivore
  noun

Etymology

Origin of granivorous

First recorded in 1640–50; grani- ( def. ) + -vorous ( def. )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

granivorous

These carnivorous Animals, who naturally reject all vegetable Food, are the only primary Harbingers or Breeders of it; though they are capable of transmitting it by a Bite to graminivorous and granivorous ones.

From Advice to the people in general, with regard to their health by Tissot, S. A. D. (Samuel Auguste David)

The Professorin added in continuation:— "But yet the granivorous birds are no more virtuous than the insectivorous; each kind lives in accordance with its own law."

From Villa Eden: The Country-House on the Rhine by Auerbach, Berthold

All creation, nearly, preys on some other part of creation—except that respectable number that are granivorous, and herbivorous, and graminivorous.'

From A Red Wallflower by Warner, Susan

Seed′-drill, a machine for sowing seed in rows; Seed′-eat′er, a granivorous bird.—adj.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various

This bag is very conspicuous in the granivorous tribes immediately after eating.

From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 13, No. 377, June 27, 1829 by Various