megapode

[ meg-uh-pohd ]

noun

any of several large-footed, short-winged gallinaceous Australasian birds of the family Megapodiidae, typically building a compostlike mound of decaying vegetation as an incubator for their eggs.

Origin of megapode

First recorded in 1855–60; from New Latin Megapodius, a genus name; see origin at mega-, -pod

Also called brush tur·key [bruhsh-tur-kee], /ˈbrʌʃ ˌtɜr ki/, mound·bird [mound-burd], /ˈmaʊndˌbɜrd/, mound build·er [mound-bil-der], /ˈmaʊnd ˌbɪl dər/, scrub fowl [skruhb-foul]. /ˈskrʌb ˌfaʊl/.

Words Nearby megapode

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use megapode in a sentence

Even worse, in high priestly sacrilege, he encouraged Jerry to attack a megapode hen in the act of laying.
Jerry of the Islands | Jack London
The only place where the domestication of the megapode is recorded is the island of Savo in the Solomons.
In the Andamans and Nicobars | C. Boden Kloss
Now the megapode of the Solomons is a distant cousin to the brush turkey of Australia.
Jerry of the Islands | Jack London
Wherefore, he alone of all Somo, barred rigidly by taboo, ate megapode eggs.
Jerry of the Islands | Jack London
The birds were a species of megapode, which are found chiefly in Australia and Borneo and the intermediate islands.
The Rival Crusoes | W.H.G. Kingston

British Dictionary definitions for megapode

megapode

/ (ˈmɛɡəˌpəʊd) /

noun

any ground-living gallinaceous bird of the family Megapodiidae, of Australia, New Guinea, and adjacent islands. Their eggs incubate in mounds of sand, rotting vegetation, etc, by natural heat: Also called: mound-builder See also brush turkey, mallee fowl

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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