ostrich

UK: /ˈɒstrɪtʃ/

US: /ˈɔstrɪtʃ, ˈɑstrɪtʃ/

US: (ô′strich, os′trich)

Inflections of 'ostrich' (n): npl: ostriches

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

os•trich /ˈɔstrɪtʃ, ˈɑstrɪtʃ/   n. [countable]

1. Birds a two-toed, swift-footed bird that cannot fly, originally of Africa and SW Asia.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

os•trich  (ô′strich, os′trich), n. 

1. Birds a large, two-toed, swift-footed flightless bird, Struthio camelus, indigenous to Africa and Arabia, domesticated for its plumage: the largest of living birds.
2. Birds (not used scientifically) a rhea.
3. a person who attempts to ignore unpleasant facts or situations.

• Late Greek strouthíōn; see struthious
• Vulgar Latin *avistrūthius, for Latin avis bird + Late Latin strūthiō
• Old French ostrusce (compare French autruche)
• Middle English ostrice, ostriche 1175–1225

os′trich•like′, adj. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

ostrich / ˈɒstrɪtʃ/ noun ( -triches, -trich)

1. a fast-running flightless African bird, Struthio camelus, that is the largest living bird, with stout two-toed feet and dark feathers, except on the naked head, neck, and legs: order Struthioniformes
   See ratite
2. American ostrich ⇒
   another name for rhea
3. a person who refuses to recognize the truth, reality, etc: a reference to the ostrich's supposed habit of burying its head in the sand

Etymology: 13th Century: from Old French ostrice, from Latin avis bird + Late Latin struthio ostrich, from Greek strouthion