cassowary
(ˈkæsəwərɪ)
Forms: α. 7 casso-, cassaware, 9 cassowar; β. 7 cassawarway, -waraway, cassa-, cassiowary, 8 cassuary, (casuari), 7– cassowary.
[a. Malay kasuārī or kasavārī (Yule). In F. casoar, It. casuario, mod.L. casuārius. The earliest Eng. form was app. through Du. or F.]
1. A genus of large cursorial birds, related to the Ostrich, inhabiting the islands in the Indian Archipelago as far as New Guinea. They stand about five feet high; the wings are of no use for flight, but are furnished with stiff featherless quills, like spines, which serve for combat or defence.
‘Named Emeu by the early Portuguese navigators. It is the Emeu vulgo Casoaris (the latter appearing to be the Malay appellation) of Bontius.’ Penny Cycl. XXIII. 142/2. (See emu.)
| 1611 Coryat Crudities Pref. Verses, Saint James his Ginney-hens the Cassawarway moreover..(Margin. An East Indian bird at St. James in the keeping of Mr. Walker). 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Gt. Eater Kent 11 From the tit-mouse to the estrich or cassawaraway. 1656 More Antid. Ath. ii. xi. (1712) 74 In the Cassoware or Emeu. 1690 Locke (J.), The relation between dam and chick, between the two cassiowaries in St. James's Park. 1729 Dampier's Voy. IV. i. 266 The Cassawaris is about the bigness of a large Virginia Turkey. 1772 Weekly Mag. 25 June 386/1 The casuari is black, and in size equal to an ostrich. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. III. 39 The Cassowary is a bird which was first brought..into Europe by the Dutch from Java. 1801 Southey Thalaba vii. xviii, Large as the hairy Cassowar was that o'ershadowing Bird. 1880 Haughton Phys. Geog. vi. 263 Papua is the proper centre of the Cassowaries. |
2. New Holland cassowary: the emu.
| 1842 Penny Cycl. XXIII. 142 British naturalists..now apply the term Emeu to the New Holland Cassowary. |