< New Latin (1850) < Greek aipý ( s ) steep, lofty, + órnīs bird
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Just a few thousand years ago, gargantuan fauna roamed the planet, from the gorilla-sized sloth lemur Archaeoindris fontoynontii to the elephant bird Aepyornis maximus.
From Nature ● Dec. 11, 2018
They still tell of a great bird, called Aepyornis by paleontologists, which used to roam the island until a few thousand years ago.
From Time Magazine Archive
Last week the chance that Madagascar could escape World War II seemed as rare as an Aepyornis egg.
From Time Magazine Archive
Scholars suspect that Aepyornis titan may have given rise to the legend of a great bird called the roc, which is told in the Arabian Nights.
From Time Magazine Archive
The second day I broached one of the Aepyornis eggs, scraped the shell away at the end bit by bit, and tried it, and I was glad to find it was good enough to eat.
From The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents by Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)
Last year a complete egg of an aepyornis maximus, otherwise known as an elephant bird, sold for $130,000 – roughly five times what it would have gone for a decade earlier.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 24, 2019
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
