roadrunner
part of speech
noun (a roadrunner, roadrunners)
meaning for a pupil
1) A roadrunner is a fast bird of the deserts of the south-western USA and Mexico that prefers to run rather than fly. tree →
2) The Road Runner is a cartoon bird who always escapes from a hungry coyote (a name of a character). tree →
sense in the lessons
In nature lessons about deserts the roadrunner shows how animals adapt: it can run about 30 km per hour, eats lizards, snakes and insects, and is a kind of cuckoo. Children also know it from the old «Road Runner» cartoons, where it says «meep meep». Phrases: «greater roadrunner», «as fast as a roadrunner».
examples
- A roadrunner dashed across the desert road in front of our car. tree →
- Roadrunners can catch and eat small rattlesnakes. tree →
- The roadrunner is the state bird of New Mexico. tree →
- It can fly, but it would rather run. tree →
- In the cartoon, the coyote never catches the Road Runner. tree →
- Roadrunners sunbathe in the morning to warm up after cold desert nights. tree →
- Our class drew a desert food chain with a roadrunner in it. tree →
note
Plural «roadrunners». Written as one word (also «road runner»). The cartoon name is usually «Road Runner» with capitals. Myth: real roadrunners do not say «meep meep»; they make cooing and clattering sounds.
In the corpora
- A coyote can run at about 65 km per hour, and coyotes are among the real predators of roadrunners.
- A real roadrunner can run at about 30 km per hour, but a real coyote can run about twice as fast.
- Real roadrunners do not say «meep meep»; they make soft cooing sounds and loud rattles by clattering their beaks.
- Roadrunners get most of the water they need from the animals they eat and rarely drink.
- A real roadrunner can run about thirty kilometres an hour, but a coyote can run about twice as fast.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «roadrunner» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.