guan
(gwɑːn)
Also 8 quan, 9 guam.
[prob. a native name.]
One of a family or subfamily (Pelopinæ, Newton) of gallinaceous birds of South America, allied to the curassows.
| 1743 G. Edwards Nat. Hist. I. 13 The Quan or Guan, so called in the West Indies..is a little bigger than a common Hen. 1827 O. W. Roberts Centr. Amer. 228 He fired at three guams, each as large as a turkey-cock. 1852 Th. Ross Humboldt's Trav. II. xxiv. 444 Large birds, a guan (pava de monte) for instance, or a curassao (alector), when wounded in the thigh, die in two or three minutes. 1895 C. Dixon in Fortn. Rev. Apr. 645 The Cracidæ or curassows and guans, with fifty-three species. |