pheasant

/ˈfɛznt/

/ˈfɛzɪnt/

Other forms: pheasants

A pheasant is a wild bird with long tail feathers. Pheasants were first introduced to North America in the 1700s, and they've become a popular game bird for hunters.

Pheasants are native to Asia, but they've existed in the U.S. for about 200 years. You can easily tell if a pheasant is a male — its coloring will be bright and showy, and it may have a wattle and an extremely long tail. Females tend to be smaller, with brown and white striped feathers. The midwestern states are popular with pheasant hunters, since the birds are plentiful there.

Definitions of pheasant

1. noun

   large long-tailed gallinaceous bird native to the Old World but introduced elsewhere
   types:

   Phasianus colchicus, ring-necked pheasant

   common pheasant having bright plumage and a white neck ring

   Afropavo congensis, Congo peafowl, afropavo

   both sexes are brightly colored

   argus, argus pheasant

   large brilliantly patterned East Indian pheasant

   Chrysolophus pictus, golden pheasant

   brightly colored crested pheasant of mountains of western and central Asia

   monal, monaul

   brilliantly colored pheasant of southern Asia

   bird of Juno, peafowl

   very large terrestrial southeast Asian pheasant often raised as an ornamental bird

   tragopan

   brilliantly colored Asian pheasant having wattles and two fleshy processes on the head

   pea-chick, peachick

   a young peafowl

   peacock

   male peafowl; having a crested head and very large fan-like tail marked with iridescent eyes or spots

   peahen

   female peafowl

   Pavo cristatus, blue peafowl

   peafowl of India and Ceylon

   Pavo muticus, green peafowl

   peafowl of southeast Asia

   type of:

   phasianid

   a kind of game bird in the family Phasianidae
2. noun

   flesh of a pheasant; usually braised
   type of:

   wildfowl

   flesh of any of a number of wild game birds suitable for food