ostrich
part of speech
noun (ostrich, ostriches)
meaning for a pupil
1) An ostrich is a very large bird from Africa that cannot fly but runs very fast on its long, strong legs. tree →
2) It is the biggest bird in the world and lays the biggest eggs. tree →
sense in the lessons
In maths: a bird counted; 2 legs each; also its speed or the weight of its eggs. In science: an ostrich is a bird even though it cannot fly; it has 2 toes on each foot. Myth: ostriches do not really bury their heads in the sand. Phrases: ostrich egg, ostrich feather, an ostrich farm.
examples
- The farm has 12 ostriches. tree →
- An ostrich can run 70 km in an hour. tree →
- An ostrich egg weighs 1 kg. tree →
- How many legs do 5 ostriches have? tree →
- The ostrich is the biggest bird in the world. tree →
- Ostriches cannot fly, but they can run very fast. tree →
- An ostrich kicks hard to defend itself. tree →
- We saw ostriches on the safari park trip. tree →
- "Is that the Ostrich you talked about?" said the Eagle in disgust. tree →
note
Plural «ostriches» (add -es after ch). A counted animal with 2 legs, often with a speed. Trap: though it is big, an ostrich has 2 legs, not 4. Myth: «hiding its head in the sand» is not true; the saying means ignoring a problem.
In the corpora
- All birds have two wings and two legs; most have four toes on each foot, but the ostrich has only two.
- Ostriches do not bury their heads in sand; they could not breathe, and it would not make them safer.
- Ostriches have only two toes on each foot, fewer than any other bird.
- An ostrich's eye is about 5 centimetres across, the biggest of any land animal and bigger than its own brain.
- Ostriches swallow pebbles, which collect in the gizzard and grind tough food, because birds have no teeth.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «ostrich» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.