chaparral cock
- noun
- /ˌʃæpəˈræl kɑk/
- Archaic
:
correcaminos
- The chaparral cock darted across the dusty road, barely visible in a blur of feathers.
Examples
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Locals often refer to the roadrunner as a chaparral cock due to its preferred habitat.
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Look at that chaparral cock!
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We spotted a chaparral cock hunting for insects near the cacti during our hike.
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Did you see a chaparral cock?
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The chaparral cock is famous for its incredible speed as it darts across the desert floor.
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In the southwest, you might see a chaparral cock racing past you on the dirt road.
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During our hike, we spotted a chaparral cock skillfully maneuvering through the bushes.
Synonyms
7
4.6
A large ground-running bird with a long tail that lives in the deserts of the American Southwest and Mexico
A large bird that runs very fast on the ground, living in deserts of the southwestern United States and Mexico
A fast ground bird like a roadrunner that lives in dry parts of North and Central America
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is compositionally built from 'chaparral' (a dry, shrubby habitat) + 'cock' (a male bird), so a learner who knows both words would reasonably infer it refers to a bird associated with chaparral. While details like it being the roadrunner or its ground‑dwelling, fast‑moving behaviour are not fully specified by the parts, the basic meaning as a chaparral-dwelling bird is transparently derivable.
Etymology
The name chaparral cock comes from two clear images: chaparral means low, bushy land where the bird lives, and cock was an old word for a bird or a male bird. So the name was used for the fast, ground-dwelling 'roadrunner'.