Adjacent Words

Ratitae definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: used in former classifications to include all ratite bird orders [syn: Ratitae, superorder Ratitae]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Struthiones Stru`thi*o"nes, n. pl. [NL. See Struthio.] (Zo["o]l.) (a) A division, or order, of birds, including only the African ostriches. (b) In a wider sense, an extensive group of birds including the ostriches, cassowaries, emus, moas, and allied birds incapable of flight. In this sense it is equivalent to Ratit[ae], or Drom[ae]ognath[ae].

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Ratitae Ra*ti"t[ae], n. pl. [NL., fr. L. ratis a raft; cf. L. ratitus marked with the figure of a raft.] (Zo["o]l.) An order of birds in which the wings are small, rudimentary, or absent, and the breastbone is destitute of a keel. The ostrich, emu, and apteryx are examples.