partridge
(ˈpɑːtrɪdʒ)
Forms: see below.
[ME. pertrich, partrich: cf. OF. perdriz, pertriz (mod.F. perdrix), alteration of perdiz (= Pr. perditz, Sp. perdiz, It. † perdice (Florio), now pernice):—L. perdix, perdīc-em, a. Gr. πέρδιξ, πέρδῑκ-α (the Greek) partridge.
The change of orig. perd- to pert- is occasional also in OF. (pertris, petris, pertrisel, pertriset, Godef.); the further change to part- is as in clerk, heart, and also occurs in OF. pardix; that of -ich, -itch, to -idge is as in cnowleche, knowledge, etc. The change of perdix to perdrix (perh. from a mixture of perdis and *pedris, petris) occurred in French, the second r being present in Eng. from the first. But no explanation has been found of the representation of the Fr. -riz, -ris, by Eng. -rich, nor of the notable fact that this became -rik in northern Eng., like the final element in hevenriche, hevenrik, kingriche, kingrik, etc.]
A. Forms. (The collective pl. is often like sing.) a. α3–8 (9 dial.) partrich, 4–6 -riche, 5 -eriche, -oriche, (parthyryd), 5–6 partrych(e, -ricche, -rytche, -reche; pardriche, -dryche; 6– partridge, (6 -rydge, -rege, -yrege, -erige, 7 -rige, -ridg, -rage). β4–6 pertrich(e, -ry(t)che, 5 -erych, 6 -rige. γdial. 6–9 patrich, 7–9 -ridge.
| c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 411/316 A ȝong partrich he bar on his hond. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 349 A fat partrich [v.rr. partrych, perterych, partriche]. c 1400 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) xvi. 73/15 Of þe parteriche and þe quayle. Ibid. 73/17 A goode goshauke..for þe pertriche. 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 245 Pardriches, culueres. 14.. Metr. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 625/2 Perdix [glossed] parthyryd. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 339 Partricche and fesaunte, pyes, nyȝtegales. c 1440 in Househ. Ord. (1790) 450 Rosted pejons, egretys, partoriches. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 395/1 Pertryche, byrd, perdix. 1526 Skelton Magnyf. 484 A plummed partrydge all redy to flye. 1530 Palsgr. 164 Pardris, a partrytche. Ibid. 253/2 Pertrytche a byrde, pardris. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. To Rdr. 3 b, One yit serueth his stomake with a Pertrige. a 1550 in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. III. 71, I sende yowe by this bringer half a dossen partterigs... I sende owte my hawke this day to kyll yowe parterige for super on Monday. 1550 J. Coke Eng. & Fr. Heralds iii. (1877) 57 Pardryche, quayles,..and other wylde fowle. 1578 Cooper Thesaurus, Cacabo,..to call like a patrich. 1579 E. K. Gloss. Spenser's Sheph. Cal. Apr. 118 A Couey of Partridge. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. v. 34 b, xij. couple of quick partriges. 1616 B. Jonson Forest ii. 29 The painted Partrich lyes in every field. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. xiv. §76 (1704) 404 To see a Dog set patridge. 1892 Hewett Peas. Sp. 12 (E.D.D.) Zo plump's a pattridge. |
b. north. Eng. and
Sc. α4–6
partryk, (4–5
-ryke, 5
-rike), 4, 9
-rick. β4–6
pertrik, (4–5
-ryke, 4–6
-rike, 5–6
-ryk,
-rycke, 6
-rek, 6–7
-rick, 6–9
pairtrick, 8
peartrick). γ8–9
paitrick,
patrick, 9
paitric,
paetrick.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 57 My polyle þat is penne-fed & partrykes boþe. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints v. (Johannes) 457 A fule..quhilk we ane partryk cal. 1388 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 47 In v pertrikis..emptis. 1408 Ibid. 53, xv pertrykes. c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 640/41 Hic perdix,..pertrycke. 1438 Bk. Alexander Grt. (Bann. Cl.) 14 Sparhalk, Pertrik, or Quailȝe. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj., Pecun. Crimes 139 b, Pertricks, Plovers, Black-cocks. 1728 Ramsay Lure 12 Peartricks, teals, moor-powts, and plivers. 1784 Burns Ep. to J. Rankine vii, I..brought a paitrick to the grun'. 1807 Tannahill Poems (1817) 229 (E.D.D.) The pairtrick sung his e'ening note. 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl. (1876) 176 Wha had..shot a paitric or hare. 1838 Hogg Tales (1866) 63 Shooting moor-cocks, an' paetricks. |
B. Signification.
1. a. The name of certain well-known game-birds; specifically the British and Central European species
Perdix cinerea, also called distinctively
common partridge or
grey partridge. More widely, used to include all species of the genus
Perdix, and some allied genera: see 2.
| c 1290, etc. [see A. a and b]. 1382 Wyclif Jer. xvii. 11 The partrich nurshede that she bar not. 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 48 Lyche to lyche evere doth applie As scheep to scheep and man to man Pertryche to pertryche and swan to swan. 1513 Bk. Keruynge in Babees Bk. 275 Wynge that partryche. c 1592 Marlowe Jew of Malta iv. iv, Hee hides and buries it vp, as Partridges doe their egges, vnder the earth. 1611 Bible 1 Sam. xxvi. 20 The king of Israel is come out to seeke a flea, as when one doeth hunt a partridge in the mountaines. 1629 Symmer Spir. Posie i. iv. 14 The Partridges of Paphlagonia have two hearts. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) V. 206 The partridge is now too common in France to be considered as a delicacy. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xxv, Plump as any partridge was each Miss Mould. |
b. In former British Colonies and
U.S., popularly applied to several birds of the
Tetraonidæ or Grouse Family and
Phasianidæ or Pheasant Family,
esp. in New England, the Ruffed Grouse (
Bonasa or
Tetrao umbellus), in Pennsylvania, etc. the Virginian Quail, Colin, or Bob-white (
Ortyx virginianus): see also 2.
By some earlier naturalists extended to include the Tinamous of S. America (
perdizes of Spanish and Portuguese).
| 1634 Relat. Ld. Baltimore's Plant. (1865) 16 Euery day they are abroad after squirrells, partridges, turkies, deere, and the like game. 1637 T. Morton New Eng. Canaan (1883) 194 Partridges there are, much like our Partridges of England. 1808 Pike Sources Mississ. (1810) 73 My Indians killed fifteen partridges, some nearly black,..called the Savanna partridge. 1809 A. Henry Trav. 53 The neighbouring woods abounded in partridges, and hares. [Note] The birds, here intended, are red grouse. a 1813 A. Wilson Amer. Ornith. (1832) II. 230 The food of the Partridge [Ortyx virginianus] consists of grain, seeds, insects, and berries. 1840 Penny Cycl. XVII. 440/1 This, the Quail of the inhabitants of New England, the Partridge of the Pennsylvanians, has the bill black. 1849 Bryant Old Man's Counsel v, The grouse, that wears A sable ruff around his mottled neck; Partridge they call him by our northern streams, And pheasant by the Delaware. 1854 Thoreau Walden xii. (1863) 243 In June the partridge (Tetrao umbellus)..led her brood past my windows. 1894 Newton Dict. Birds 696 By English colonists the name Partridge has been very loosely applied, and especially so in North America. There is sometimes a difficulty at first to know whether the Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus) or the Virginian Colin (Ortyx virginianus) is intended. 1895 Ibid. 964 Buffon and his successors saw that the Tinamous, though passing among the European colonists of South America as ‘Partridges’, could not be associated with those birds. |
c. The bird, or its flesh, as used for eating.
| 13.. Coer de L. 3526 There is no flesch so noryssaunt,..Partrick, plover, heroun, ne swan. ? c 1475 Sqr. lowe Degre 318 With deynty meates that were dere, With partryche, pecoke, and plovere. 1584 Cogan Haven Health clix, Partrich of all foules is most soonest digested. 1715 S. Sewall Diary 19 Sept., Din'd with Fry'd Lamb and Partridge. |
2. Ornith. With defining words, applied to particular species of the genus
Perdix, or of the sub-families Perdicinæ, Odontophorinæ, and Caccabineæ, of family Phasianidæ, also to some species of Tetraonidæ, all of Order Gallinæ; in S. Africa, to some of Order Pterocletes (Sand-grouse). The following are the chief species:
African or
Barbary p., of N. Africa,
Caccabis petrosa;
bamboo p., of North China,
Bambusicola thoracica;
bearded p., of E. Siberia,
Perdix barbata;
blackheaded p., of Arabia and Abyssinia,
Caccabis melanocephalus;
Bonham's p., of W. Asia,
Ammoperdix Bonhami;
buff-breasted p., of W. Africa,
Ptilopachys ventralis;
California p. (or Quail),
Callipepla californica;
capoeira p., of Brazil,
Odontophorus dentatus;
chukar p., of India,
Caccabis Chukar;
French p. = red-legged p.;
Gambel's p., of California,
Callipepla Gambelli;
Greek p., of Southern Europe (the original
Gr.-L. πέρδιξ,
perdix),
Caccabis saxatilis;
grey p. (
a) , the
common p. (sense 1); (
b) the Indian genus
Ortygornis;
Guiana p., of S. America,
Odontophorus guianensis;
Hey's p., of Arabia,
Ammoperdix Heyi;
hill-p., the genus
Galloperdix,
esp. G. lunulatus of India;
Himalayan p. = snow p.;
Hodgson's p., of Bhutan,
Perdix hodgsoniæ;
Massena p., of New Mexico,
Callipepla montezumæ;
mountain or
plumed p., of California,
Oreortyx pictus;
Namaqua p., of S. Africa (Sand-grouse),
Pterocles namaqua;
painted p. (or Francolin), of S. Africa,
Francolinus pictus;
redlegged p., of Europe,
Caccabis rufa;
rock p., a synonym of
Greek p. and
Barbary p.;
sanguine p., of China, Geoffroy's Blood-Pheasant,
Ithaginis geoffroyi;
snow p.,
Lerwa nivicola; also
Tetraogallus Himalayensis;
spruce p. = Canada grouse s.v. grouse n.1;
tree or
white-browed p., of Central America,
Dendrostyx leucophrys.
Also,
night partridge, a name locally given in
U.S. to the American woodcock,
Philohela minor (Webster, 1890).
| 1894 Newton Dict. Birds 696 The French Partridge has several congeners, all with red legs... In Africa north of the Atlas there is the *Barbary Partridge. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Perdrix gaille..the great browne-bodied, and red-legd Partridge, the *French Partridge. 1894 Newton Dict. Birds 695 The common Red-legged Partridge of Europe, generally called the French Partridge,..was introduced into England toward the end of the eighteenth century. |
| 1884–5 Stand. Nat. Hist. (1888) IV. 204 A genus of *gray partridges, styled Ortygornis,..is found in India and Ceylon. 1894 Newton Dict. Birds 692 note, In India the name Grey Partridge is used for Ortygornis ponticerianus, which is perhaps a Francolin. |
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., *Indian Partridge, the name given by the Spaniards to a bird of the West Indies, of which there are three or four species; all which, Nieremberg says, are properly of the partridge kind. |
| 1850 R. G. Cumming Hunter's Life S. Afr. (ed. 2) I. 161 The *Namaqua partridges..every morning and evening visit the vleys and fountains in large coveys for the purpose of drinking... By watching the flight of these birds mornings and evenings I have discovered the fountains in the desert. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Perdrix rouge..the great *red⁓legd Partridge. 1678 Ray Willughby's Ornith. 167 The Red-leg'd Partridge, Perdix ruffa Aldrov. called in Italy Coturnice and Coturno. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., Red-legged Partridge..is not found in England, but is sometimes shot in the islands of Guernsey and Jersey. |
| 1840 Penny Cycl. XVII. 443/1 The *Sanguine Partridge..may be considered as uniting the Partridges with the Pheasants and the Polyplectrons. |
| 1894 Newton Dict. Birds 696 The group of birds known as Francolins and *Snow-partridges are generally furnished with strong but blunt spurs,..the genus Lerwa contains but a single species, L. nivicola, which is emphatically the Snow-Partridge of Himalayan sportsmen. |
| 1895 Outing (U.S.) XXVII. 218/1 The *spruce partridge abounds here. |
† 3. Mil. a. A kind of charge for cannons consisting of a number of missiles fired together, similar to langrage or case-shot; also
partridge-shot: see 5. See also
quot. 1788.
Obs.| 1678 Lond. Gaz. No. 1361/1 He Steered from us, falls a Stern, loaded his Guns with double Head and round Partridge. 1697 Ibid. No. 3318/3 We had time enough to give her four entire Broad-sides with Round and Partrage from Aloft. 1726 G. Shelvocke Voy. round World 262 We had no more ammunition than two round shot, a few chain bolts and bolt-heads, the clapper of the Speedwell's bell, and some bags of beach stones to serve for partridge. 1751 Smollett Per. Pic. ii. 1788 Grose Mil. Antiq. Descrip. of Plates II. 5 The Partridges. A mortar that threw thirteen grenadoes and one bomb at the same time; the bomb representing the old hen, and the grenadoes the young partridges. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Partridges, grenades thrown from a mortar. |
b. (See
quot.)
| 1823 Crabb Technol. Dict., Partridge (Gunn.), large bombards which were formerly used. [So in later Dicts.] |
This is
app. an error, due to a misunderstanding of Grose,
quot. 1788 above. But
cf. OF. perdriau ‘an engine for throwing stones’ Guiart 1304, in Du Cange and Littré.
4. sea partridge.
† a. A name of the sole. [
Cf. F.
perdrix de mer ‘the sole-fish’ (
Cotgr.).]
b. A local name of the Golden Wrasse or Gilt-head,
Crenilabrus melops (Webster 1890).
| 1633 Hart Diet of Diseased i. xxi. 89 The Sole is without exception a good and dainty Fish..it is for this cause called the Sea-partridge. 1740 R. Brookes Angling ii. xv. 120 The Sole..in some Countries, they stile it the Sea-Partridge. |
5. attrib. and
Comb. a. simple
attrib., as
partridge brood,
partridge chick,
partridge dance,
partridge drive (see
drive n. 1 c),
partridge eye,
partridge fillet,
partridge ground,
partridge hackle,
partridge mew,
partridge net,
partridge pie,
partridge poult,
partridge prairie,
partridge season,
partridge wing.
b. objective, etc., as
partridge-breeder,
partridge-driving,
partridge-hawking,
partridge-killer,
partridge-shooter,
partridge-shooting; also
partridge-like adj. c. Special
Combs.:
partridge-bird: see
quot.;
partridge-breast,
-breasted (aloe), the name of an American species of aloe (
Aloe variegata);
partridge bush = partridge-berry b;
partridge-cane: see
partridge-wood 1;
partridge cochin, a variety of cochin-china fowl (
Cent. Dict.);
partridge-dove, a local name given to a ground-dove of Jamaica (
Geotrygon cristata), also called mountain-witch (ground-dove);
partridge-hawk, the North-American goshawk (
Astur atricapillus);
partridge-legged clover: see
quot.;
partridge pea, (
a) a speckled or mottled variety of field pea; (
b) a yellow-flowered leguminous plant (
Cassia Chamæcrista) of
U.S.: called also
sensitive pea; (
c) a plant (
Heisteria coccinea, family Olacineæ) having red fruits enclosed in an enlarged fleshy calyx;
partridge-pigeon, an Australian pigeon (
Geophaps scripta), one of the bronzewings;
partridge plum, the fruit of the partridge-berry;
partridge-shell, a large univalve shell (
Dolium perdix) with partridge-like mottlings, a
partridge tun;
partridge-shot, (
a)
= sense 3 a; (
b) shot suitable for shooting partridges;
† partridge tun,
Conch., a shell of one of the two groups into which Cuvier divided the genus
Dolium (see
tun, tunshell);
partridge-vine,
= partridge-berry a. (Funk 1895). Also
partridge-berry, -wood.
| 1871 J. Burroughs Wake-Robin, Adirondac (1884) 120 Here..I met my beautiful singer, the hermit-thrush... A boy..said it was the ‘*partridge-bird’, no doubt from the resemblance of its note, when disturbed, to the cluck of the partridge. |
| 1825 Greenhouse Comp. I. 103 Aloe variegata, *partridge-breast. |
| 1858 Glenny Gard. Every-day Bk. 191/1 The various Aloes, of which the *Partridge-breasted..is at the head. |
| 1864 Tennyson Aylmer's F. 382 These *partridge⁓breeders of a thousand years. |
| 1843 Amer. Pioneer II. 125 The vivid green leaves and bright scarlet berries of the ‘*partridge bush’, or ‘Checker⁓berry’. |
| 1843 Holtzapffel Turning I. 19 Some of the smallest palms are imported..for walking⁓sticks, under the names of *partridge and Penang canes, etc. |
| 1852 C. W. Hoskyns Talpa 127 The *partridge-chick had found cool midday covert under the young turnip-leaf. |
| 1829 P. Hawker Diary (1893) II. 3 This is not a professed *partridge country. |
| 1871 Darwin Desc. Man ii. xiii. (1890) 380 In these *Partridge-dances,..the birds assume the strangest attitudes. |
| 1892 Greener Breech-Loader 223 In *partridge-driving the stations are frequently changed, and the object is to break up the coveys as early as possible in the day. |
| c 1470 Henryson Mor. Fab. ix. (Wolf & Fox) xxvi, It is ane side of salmond, as it wair, And callour, pypand like ane *pertrik ee. |
| 1867 F. Francis Angling vi. (1880) 244 The *Partridge Hackle. Dressed similarly to the last fly. |
| 1781 Latham Gen. Synopsis Birds I. i. 78 This bird..was sent from Severn River, Hudson's bay, where it was called Speckled *Partridge Hawk. |
| 1807 Young Agric. Essex I. 8 It [the ‘red’ land] yields clover, but the plant will fatten nothing,..they call it *partridge-leg'd clover, with red stalks and small leaves. |
| 1840 Penny Cycl. XVII. 438/2 The *Partridge-like..plumage..of the..Quails. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 23 June 8/2 The tinamous, a partridge⁓like bird of South America. |
| 1749 Fielding Tom Jones iv. iv, I must take care of my *partridge mew. I shall have some..man or other set all my partridges at liberty. |
| 1759 H. Walpole Lett. H. Mann 13 Dec. (1846) IV. 7 Fourteen thousand soldiers and nine generals taken, as it were, in a *partridge-net! |
| 1812 Sir J. Sinclair Syst. Husb. Scot. i. 225 The *partridge pea may be sown in May, but no other field variety. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 370 The partridge, grey maple, or Marlborough pea, is suited for light soils and late situations. 1866 Treas. Bot. 574/1 Heisteria coccinea..is a native..particularly of Martinique, where the French call it Bois perdrix, which is a corruption of Pois perdrix, signifying partridge pea, the fleshy red fruits forming a favourite food of pigeons and other birds. |
| 1723 J. Nott Cook's & Confectioner's Dict. sig. y7 (heading) To make a *Partridge Pye. 1757 Earl of Buckingham Let. Sept. in Lett. to & from Henrietta, Countess of Suffolk (1824) II. 239 If the partridge-pie gives you as much pleasure as your letter did to me. 1963 A. L. Simon Guide Good Food & Wines 579/2 Partridge pie. |
| 1847 L. Leichhardt Overland Exped. i. 8 The *partridge pigeon (Geophaps scripta) abounded in the Acacia groves. |
| 1872 Mrs. Stowe in Christian Union 3 Jan. 32/3 Little Love gathered stores of bright checker berries and *partridge plums. |
| 1855 Kingsley Westw. Ho iii, [They] felt like a brace of *partridge-poults cowering in the stubble. |
| 1840 Penny Cycl. XVII. 436/1 The well known object of every European *partridge-shooter. |
| 1683 R. D. State of Turkey 153 Laden with..pieces of iron, and *partridg-shot. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Sachets de mitrailles, grape-shot, or partridge-shot. 1833 G. A. McCall Lett. fr. Frontiers (1868) 263 A load of partridge-shot. |
| 1837 Penny Cycl. IX. 456/1 Dolium... Cuvier has separated the species into two sections, viz. the Tuns (Dolium) and the *Partridge Tuns (Perdix of de Montfort). |
| 1880 Harper's Mag. Nov. 864/1 Here are soft beds of rich green moss studded with scarlet berries of wintergreen and *partridge vine. 1940 Sun (Baltimore) 9 Dec. 8/4 In Christmas seasons when holly berries are comparatively scarce, the berries of the smoke bush come as a substitute, and often of the dogwood and of the partridge vines in the woodlands. |
| 1599 Shakes. Much Ado ii. i. 155 There's a *Partridge wing saued, for the foole will eate no supper that night. |
Hence
ˈpartridging vbl. n., shooting partridges; (
cf. blackberrying and
-ing1 1 c).
| 1894 Steel Potter's Thumb (1895) 108, I don't..remember how it happened. We were partridging, I suppose. |