ruffed grouse
1
9.1
- noun
- /ˈrʌft ɡraʊs/
- US
:
gallito de las nieves
- PHOTO: In Vermont, a female short-tailed weasel in summer coat tears into a ruffed grouse she has killed.
- ruffed grouse and deer
- ruffed grouse and woodcock
- ruffed grouse or cottontail
Examples
-
As he drove to his hunting spot, he saw a couple of ruffed grouse near the edge of the road.
-
Where I grew up in the Northeast, bird hunting meant only one thing: ruffed grouse.
-
And so, I too stalk with hope for a fruitful hunt for ruffed grouse.
Fiction book (1993) -
This jewel of wisdom opened my eyes and my understanding to why so many ruffed grouse hunting traditionalists favor setters.
Blog text (5) -
A dog with a wider scent cone would logically bump far fewer ruffed grouse, a naturally skittish species.
Blog text (5) -
That was the suggestion of Ted Dick, grouse coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, as we sketched out a game plan for our ruffed grouse hunt.
Blog text (6) -
The dog went on point, and as Deeble walked up, a ruffed grouse flushed.
Synonyms
A medium brown North American grouse that people often hunt in forests
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase describes a type of grouse that has a ruff (frill) of feathers around its neck, so the meaning is directly composed from 'ruffed' (having a ruff) + 'grouse' (the bird). This adjective+noun composition is straightforward and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Ruffed grouse gets its name from the bird's look: ruffed means it has a ring of feathers like a little 'collar' around its neck, and grouse is the type of bird. So the name simply points to a 'game bird' that has a noticeable ruff of feathers.