See Also: partridge(medicine)
partridge(dictionary)
partridge(encyclopedia)
partridge(dictionary)
sea partridge(medicine)
water partridge(medicine)
Braised partridge with cabbage(recipes)
Pot-roasted partridge with cabbage and chestnuts(recipes)
Roasted partridge with garlic jus and spinach with nutmeg(recipes)
Salmi of Pheasant (or Partridge, or Guinea Fowl) with Roast Chestnuts(recipes)

partridge (iou)



partridge noun & verb. ME.
[Old French pertriz, -driz (mod. perdrix) alt. of perdiz from Latin perdix, -dic-: for the final consonant cf. CABBAGE noun1.]
A. noun.
Any of numerous Old World gallinaceous birds which together with pheasants and quails constitute the subfamily Phasianinae (family Phasianidae), being generally smaller than pheasants but larger than quails; spec. any of the genus Perdix of Europe and Asia, esp. (more fully grey partridge) Perdix perdix, a game-bird native to Britain and central Europe and also introduced in N. America. ME.
Barbary partridge, chukar partridge, French partridge, red-legged partridge, seesee partridge, snow partridge, etc.
b. Any of several similar birds, mainly American gallinaceous birds of the family Phasianidae or Tetraonidae. M17.
birch partridge, mountain partridge, spruce partridge, etc.
Military. A kind of charge for cannons consisting of a number of missiles fired together. Also partridge-shot. L17-M19.
Phrases: SEA partridge.
Comb.: partridge-berry either of two N. American plants with edible red berries eaten by game, the mitchella, Mitchella repens, and the checkerberry, Gaultheria procumbens; the fruit of either of these plants; partridge pea (a) a variety of field pea with speckled seeds; (b) US a yellow-flowered leguminous plant, Cassia fasciculata, with sensitive leaves; partridge shot: see sense 2 above; partridge-wood the wood of the angelin, Andira inermis, a reddish-brown timber with darker parallel stripes.
b. verb intrans. Catch, hunt, shoot, or snare partridges. rare. M18.