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Glite Dictionary
prairie grouse

prairie grouse

9.0
A brown bird with spotted feathers that lives on grasslands in western North America
  • noun
  • /ˈprɛəri ˈɡraʊs/
  • US
translation icon : gallinazo de pradera
  • While South Dakota has become the most popular prairie grouse destination, Nebraska rates a close second, especially if you're interested in a mixed bag of chickens and sharptails.

Examples

  • Previous work on prairie grouse has primarily focused on lek location, drivers of lek site selection relative to the occurrence of trees, and nest survival relative to forest cover.

    Academic text (2016)

  • Hunters who walk the grasslands for sharptails and chickens, the two species of prairie grouse, pay a high price for their birds in sweat and boot leather.

  • The Fort Pierre National Grasslands just south of Pierre cover 160,000 acres and have become perhaps the nation's premier destination for prairie grouse hunters.

Synonyms

prairie fowl
vsprairie grouse
  • US
8.5

A brown and spotted North American bird that lives in prairie grasslands, like the prairie chicken

is broader and includes multiple grassland species rather than just one

How Common

prairie grouse
  • US
9.0
rare animal
2 6.4

Surface Forms

prairie grouse singular
prairie grouses plural

Morphology

prairie + grouse

The meaning 'a grouse that lives in prairie/grassland' is the straightforward combination of 'prairie' (grassland) and 'grouse' (a game bird). This noun‑noun compositional pattern is cross‑linguistically common and predictable, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

The compound name prairie grouse comes from the simple image of a grouse living on the prairie. A grouse is a brown, ground bird and a prairie is wide grassland, so the name means 'a type of bird' found on these open plains, and that's why it refers to birds like the greater prairie chicken and the sharp-tailed grouse.