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.

QUIZZES

HEED THE VOX POPULI, AND TAKE THIS WORD OF THE DAY QUIZ!

Test your memory on these verbal firecrackers from the week of June 29 to July 5!
Question 1 of 7
anchorite
a granular metamorphic rock.
a person who has retired to a solitary place for a life of religious seclusion.
a hobble or fetter for a horse or other animal.
TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of spatchcock

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

Words nearby spatchcock

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