pheasants

Noun

pheasant (countable and uncountable, plural pheasants)

1. (countable) A bird of family Phasianidae, often hunted for food.
   • The ſpring diſplaying her elegant taſte, the proud walk of the gold-feathered pheaſant, the light tread of the ſmall-hoofed hind, and the dancing of the ſtar-trained peacock, infuſed joy into the ſoul of the ſpectator of the aſtoniſhing works of the Creator.1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page v
2. (uncountable) The meat of this bird, eaten as food.
   • Tables were laid with cold pheasant, watercressy finger foods, sweets sufficient to give the Greater Raleigh Area sugar shock.1989, Allan Gurganus, “Black, White, and Lilac”, in Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, book two (Time Does That), page 231