Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Having a bill in which the tips of the mandibles cross. Used of a bird.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Of or pertaining to the Metagnatha.
- In ornithology, having the tips of the mandibles crossed: as, the metagnathous bill of the red crossbill, Loxia curvirostra. See quotation under epignathous.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective (Zoöl.) Cross-billed; -- said of certain birds, as the crossbill.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective zoology having the
mandibles crossing at the tip of thebill , as in thecrossbill
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
meta- + -gnathous
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word metagnathous.
Examples
-
Because I want a sandwich. metagnathous: Bageant will never become mainstream because he tells the raw truth in paragraphs like that one.
MetaFilter Projects 2009
-
PS The cappuccino at European airports is better. metagnathous: Bageant will never become mainstream because he tells the raw truth in paragraphs like that one.
MetaFilter Projects 2009
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.