spatchcock

[ spach-kok ]

/ ˈspætʃˌkɒk /

noun

a fowl that has been dressed and split open for grilling.

verb (used with object)

to prepare and roast (a fowl) in this manner.

to insert or interpolate, especially in a forced or incongruous manner: Additional information has been spatchcocked into the occasional random footnote.

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Words nearby spatchcock

spastic hemiplegia, spastic ileus, spastic paralysis, spasticity, spat, spatchcock, spate, spathaceous, spathe, spathic, spathiphyllum

Origin of spatchcock

1775–85; apparently alteration of spitchcock; popular interpretation as shortening of dispatch cock is probably specious

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

British Dictionary definitions for spatchcock

spatchcock

/ (ˈspætʃˌkɒk) /

noun

a chicken or game bird split down the back and grilledCompare spitchcock

verb (tr)

to interpolate (words, a story, etc) into a sentence, narrative, etc, esp inappropriately

Word Origin for spatchcock

C18: perhaps variant of spitchcock eel when prepared and cooked

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