# ostrich

Pronunciation: US say "AWS-trich" /ˈɔs.tɹɪt͡ʃ/; UK say "OS-trich" /ˈɒs.tɹɪt͡ʃ/

## Noun

1. A large flightless bird belonging to the order Struthioniformes.
   - Simple: A very large bird that cannot fly and runs fast on long, strong legs.
   - _The ostrich is the largest living bird, sometimes standing over nine feet tall._
   - _Farmers raise ostriches for their meat, leather, and feathers._
2. Struthio camelus, the species of the genus with the widest range, generally called the common ostrich.
   - Simple: The most common type, a large flightless African bird known as the common ostrich.
   - _The common ostrich ranges across much of sub-Saharan Africa._
   - _Wild ostriches in Africa can outrun nearly every land predator they face._
3. A person who hides from problems instead of facing them, as though burying their head in the sand.
   - Simple: A person who ignores problems instead of dealing with them.
   - _Investors who behaved like ostriches ignored every warning sign before the crash._
   - _Calling her brother an ostrich, she begged him to face the looming deadline._
4. In golf, the completion of a single hole in five strokes under par, equivalent to a quintuple birdie or double condor and considered only hypothetical.
   - Simple: In golf, finishing one hole five shots under par, which almost never happens.
   - _An ostrich would require holing out in one stroke on a par-six hole, a feat never recorded in competition._
   - _No golfer has ever made an ostrich, and the score survives only as a clubhouse joke._

## Noun

5. The rhea, a large flightless bird native to the grasslands of South America. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A large flightless bird from South America, also called the rhea.
   - _On the pampas, the explorers chased an ostrich too swift for their horses to catch._
   - _Settlers on the Patagonian steppe prized the ostriches for their feathers and eggs._

## Origin

From Middle English ostrich, borrowed via Anglo-Norman ostrige and Old French ostruce from Vulgar Latin *austruthio, formed from Latin avis ("bird") plus strūthiō ("ostrich"), which came from Ancient Greek strouthíōn. It may instead be shortened from Latin strūthiocamēlus, from Greek strouthiokámēlos, made of strouthós ("sparrow") and kámēlos ("camel").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/ostrich (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).