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prairie chicken
noun
: a grouse (Tympanuchus cupido) chiefly of the tallgrass prairies of the central U.S. with the male having yellowish-orange neck sacs which are inflated during courtship displays
also
: a closely related smaller grouse (T. pallidicinctus) having reddish neck sacs
Examples of prairie chicken in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
As winter begins to close, nature lovers head to the grasslands around Wray to see the courtship dance of the greater prairie chickens and hear their loud calls.
—Mindy Sink, The Denver Post, 7 Feb. 2024
There may have been hats or fudge, but there wasn’t always, say, a patch with an image of the most enormous booming prairie chicken.
—Paul Nicolaus, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 Jan. 2024
Lesser prairie chickens are a ground-nesting species – found in parts of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas – that is listed under the Endangered Species Act.
—Discover Magazine, 26 Dec. 2023
New Englanders watched the heath hen, an eastern prairie chicken, collapse to a single male who died in 1931, followed quickly by the extinction of the most colorful of all our birds, the Carolina parakeet.
—TIME, 12 Dec. 2023
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Word History
First Known Use
1832, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near prairie chicken
Cite this Entry
“Prairie chicken.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prairie%20chicken. Accessed 29 Nov. 2024.
Kids Definition
prairie chicken
noun
: a grouse of the prairies of the central U.S. with the males having a patch of bare skin on either side of the neck which is inflated with air during courtship displays
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