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

I will leave the granivorous birds to speak of another class, equally hardy, but of habits more like those of the Woodpecker.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 17, March, 1859 by Various

Thirty-five to forty species of granivorous birds, among which we occasionally find in winter that rare Arctic bird, the Evening Grosbeak.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 07, No. 43, May, 1861 Creator by Various

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)

If Shakespeare had made the house sparrow, or the blackbird, or the bunting, or any of the granivorous, hard-billed birds, the foster-parent of the cuckoo, his natural history would have been at fault.

From The Writings of John Burroughs — Volume 05: Pepacton by Burroughs, John

This is a general practice with the granivorous tribes, in order to provide their young with soft and digestible food before they are strong enough to digest the hard, coriaceous seed.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 17, March, 1859 by Various