Gizzard definition

gĭzərd
gizzards
See word origin
Frequency:
A modified muscular pouch behind the stomach in the digestive tract of birds, having a thick lining and often containing ingested grit that aids in the breakdown of seeds before digestion.
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A similar digestive organ found in certain invertebrates, such as the earthworm.
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The second stomach of a bird: it has thick muscular walls and a tough lining for grinding food that has been partially digested in the first stomach.
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(informal) The stomach.
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A modified muscular pouch behind the stomach in the digestive tract of birds, having a thick lining and often containing ingested grit that aids in the breakdown of seeds before digestion.
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A similar digestive organ found in certain invertebrates, such as the earthworm.
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A muscular pouch behind the stomach in birds. It has a thick lining and often contains swallowed sand or grit, which helps in the mechanical breakdown of food.
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A portion of the esophagus of either a bird or an annelid that contains ingested grit and is used to grind up ingested food before it is transferred to the stomach.
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Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
gizzard
Plural:
gizzards

Origin of gizzard

  • Alteration of Middle English giser from Old French from Vulgar Latin gicērium from Latin gigēria cooked entrails of poultry probably of Iranian origin Persian jigar liver yē̃kwr̥ in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Old French gesier, giser et al. (French gésier), from Latin gigēria.

    From Wiktionary

Gizzard Sentence Examples

  • The gizzard of various birds which are addicted to eating hairy caterpillars, e.g.

  • The crop is modified into a large and very rugose triturating apparatus, while the gizzard, thereby relieved of its function, is reduced to the utmost.

  • A gizzard is present in a few forms. The buccal cavity is sometimes armed with jaws.

  • Most birds have a gizzard which helps to grind up seeds for example.

  • Cuculus canorus and trogons, is often lined with the broken-off hairs of these caterpillars, which, penetrating the cuticle, assume a regular spiral arrangement, due to the rotatory motion of the muscles of the gizzard.

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