spatchcock

[spach-kok]

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.

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. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for spatchcock

spatchcock

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