Ortolan - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

or·to·lan

Audio Help [awr-tl-uh

n] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	an Old World bunting, Emberiza hortulana, esteemed as a table delicacy.

2.	the bobolink.

[Origin: 1520–30; < F < Pr: lit., gardener (i.e., frequenting gardens) < L hortulānus, equiv. to hortul(us) little garden (hort(us) garden + -ulus -ule) + -ānus -an

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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Ortolan

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

or·to·lan Audio Help (ôr'tl-ən) Pronunciation Key
n.

A small brownish Old World bunting (Emberiza hortulana) eaten as a delicacy.
Any of several New World birds, such as the bobolink and the sora.

[French, from Provençal, gardener, ortolan, from Latin hortulānus, from hortulus, diminutive of hortus, garden; see gher-¹ in Indo-European roots.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

ortolan
noun
brownish Old World bunting often eaten as a delicacy

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Ortolan

Bun"ting\, n. [Scot. buntlin, corn-buntlin, OE. bunting, buntyle; of unknown origin.] (Zo["o]l.) A bird of the genus Emberiza, or of an allied genus, related to the finches and sparrows (family Fringillid[ae]).

Note: Among European species are the common or corn bunting (Emberiza miliaria); the ortolan (E. hortulana); the cirl (E. cirlus); and the black-headed (Granitivora melanocephala). American species are the bay-winged or grass (Po["o]c[ae]tes or Po[oe]cetes gramineus); the black-throated (Spiza Americana); the towhee bunting or chewink (Pipilo); the snow bunting (Plectrophanax nivalis); the rice bunting or bobolink, and others. See Ortolan, Chewick, Snow bunting, Lark bunting.

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