emu
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈiːmjuː/
ipa: /ˈim(j)u/
rhymes: -iːmjuː
Forms: form: emus
form: emeu
Etymology: Probably from Portuguese ema (“(originally) cassowary; giant rhea; (now) ostrich”).
Senses: examples: text: [page 59] The Emu, though not ſo as large as the oſtrich, is only ſecond to it in magnitude. It is by much the largeſt bird in the New Continent; and is generally found to be ſix feet high, meaſuring from its head to the ground. […] [page 60] [T]he emu runs with ſuch a ſwiftneſs, that the fleeteſt dogs are thrown out in the purſuit.
ref: 1791, Oliver Goldsmith, An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature. […], new edition, volume V, London: […] F[rancis] Wingrave, successor to Mr. [John] Nourse, […], →OCLC, part I (An History of Birds), pages 59 and 60:
text: From New Holland the emeu, / With his better moiety, / Has paid a visit to the Zo- / ological Society.
ref: 1829, “The Progress of Zoology”, in T[homas] Crofton Croker, editor, The Christmas Box. An Annual Present to Young Persons, London: John Ebers and Co. 27 Old Bond Street; Philadelphia, Pa.: Thomas Wardle, →OCLC, page 176:
text: I left my young emeus […] just parted from their affectionate father, and not yet fully reconciled to beginning the world on their own account.
ref: 1864 June 4, William Bennett, “Acclimation and Breeding of Emeus (Dromius irroratus, Bartlett) in Surrey”, in Edward Newman, editor, The Zoologist: A Popular Miscellany of Natural History, volume XXII, London: John Van Voorst, […], →OCLC, chapter II:
text: A stranger cannot but remark, throughout the pastoral districts of Australia, how seldom he sees sheep as he travels along. […] It may be that he will also expect emus and kangaroos, and he will generally be disappointed also in regard to them. Kangaroos I certainly have seen in great numbers, though by no means so often as I expected. An emu running wild I never did see. Tame emus round the houses in towns are very common, and of emus’ eggs there is a plethora.
ref: 1873, Anthony Trollope, “Wool”, in Australia and New Zealand. … In Two Volumes, volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 219–220:
text: Both cassowaries and emus are large, flightless, cursorial birds with diminutive wings. […] Emus, the world's second largest living birds, live in Australia and are the only extant member of the genus Dromaius.
ref: 2015, Sankar Chatterjee, “The Avian Revolution Begins”, in The Rise of Birds: 225 Million Years of Evolution, 2nd edition, Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, page 191:
glosses: A large flightless bird native to Australia, Dromaius novaehollandiae.
examples: text: [page 1] 1. EGGES. Caſſawary, or Emeu, vide Aldrov: p. 542. Harveum, G.A. p. 61. […] [page 3] 4. CLAWES. […] A legge and claw of the Caſſawary or Emeu that dyed at S. James’s, Weſtminſter.
ref: 1656, John Tradescant [the elder], “Some Kindes of Birds Their Egges, Beaks, Feathers, Clawes, and Spurres”, in Musæum Tradescantianum: Or, A Collection of Rarities. Preserved at South-Lambeth neer London by John Tradescant, London: Printed by John Grismond, and are to be sold by Nathanael Brooke […], →OCLC, pages 1 and 3:
text: It is a native both of the Eaſt and Weſt Indies; and all the writers on birds have deſscribed it. Aldrovand [Ulisse Aldrovandi] calls it Emeu ſive Eme; Boulius, Emeu vulgo Caſoarius; and others, Caſſuarus.
ref: 1752, John Hill, “CASUARIUS. [The Cassowary.]”, in An History of Animals. […], London: Printed for Thomas Osborne, […], →OCLC, page 482:
glosses: A cassowary (genus Casuarius).
Hyponyms: sense: Dromaius novaehollandiae
alt: †Dromaius novaehollandiae baudinianus
word: Kangaroo Island emu
sense: Dromaius novaehollandiae
alt: †Dromaius novaehollandiae minor
word: King Island emu
sense: Dromaius novaehollandiae
english: extinct subspecies
translation: extinct subspecies
alt: †Dromaius novaehollandiae diemenensis
word: Tasmanian emu
Derived terms: alt: †Dromaius novaehollandiae baudinianus
word: dwarf emu
alt: Kunzea pomifera and Owenia acidula
word: emu apple
word: emu berry
word: emu bob
taxonomic: Eremophila spp.
alt: Polidia spp., Heterodendron oleaefolium, Hakea laurina
word: emu bush
word: emu leather
word: emu-less
word: emu-like
word: emu oil
word: emu parade
word: emu patrol
word: Emu Plains
word: emu-proof
word: emutail
taxonomic: Hakea francisiana
word: emu tree
word: Emu Wars
word: emuwary
taxonomic: Stipiturus spp.
word: emu-wren