| gizzard | 1. <anatomy, ornithology> The second, or true, muscular stomach of birds, in which the food is crushed and ground, after being softened in the glandular stomach (crop), or lower part of the oesophagus; the gigerium. 2. <marine biology> A thick muscular stomach found in many invertebrate animals. A stomach armed with chitinous or shelly plates or teeth, as in certain insects and mollusks. 3. <zoology> Gizzard shad, an American herring (Dorosoma cepedianum) resembling the shad, but of little value. To fret the gizzard, to harass; to vex one's self; to worry. To stick in one's gizzard, to be difficult of digestion; to be offensive. Origin: F. Gesier, L. Gigeria, pl, the cooked entrails of poultry. Cf. Gigerium. (19 Mar 1998) |
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