emu meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

emu

noun

UK /ˈiːmjuː/ · US /ˈim(j)u/

Etymology Probably from Portuguese ema (“(originally) cassowary; giant rhea; (now) ostrich”).

A large flightless bird native to Australia, Dromaius novaehollandiae.

[page 59] The Emu, though not ſo as large as the oſtrich, is only ſecond to it in magnitude. It is by much the largeſt bird in the New Continent; and is generally found to be ſix feet high, meaſuring from its head to the ground. […] [page 60] [T]he emu runs with ſuch a ſwiftneſs, that the fleeteſt dogs are thrown out in the purſuit.1791, Oliver Goldsmith, An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature. […], new edition, volume V, London: […] F[rancis] Wingrave, successor to Mr. [John] Nourse, […], →OCLC, part I (An History of Birds), pages 59 and 60:
From New Holland the emeu, / With his better moiety, / Has paid a visit to the Zo- / ological Society.1829, “The Progress of Zoology”, in T[homas] Crofton Croker, editor, The Christmas Box. An Annual Present to Young Persons, London: John Ebers and Co. 27 Old Bond Street; Philadelphia, Pa.: Thomas Wardle, →OCLC, page 176:

3 more examples

I left my young emeus […] just parted from their affectionate father, and not yet fully reconciled to beginning the world on their own account.1864 June 4, William Bennett, “Acclimation and Breeding of Emeus (Dromius irroratus, Bartlett) in Surrey”, in Edward Newman, editor, The Zoologist: A Popular Miscellany of Natural History, volume XXII, London: John Van Voorst, […], →OCLC, chapter II:
A stranger cannot but remark, throughout the pastoral districts of Australia, how seldom he sees sheep as he travels along. […] It may be that he will also expect emus and kangaroos, and he will generally be disappointed also in regard to them. Kangaroos I certainly have seen in great numbers, though by no means so often as I expected. An emu running wild I never did see. Tame emus round the houses in towns are very common, and of emus’ eggs there is a plethora.1873, Anthony Trollope, “Wool”, in Australia and New Zealand. … In Two Volumes, volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 219–220:
Both cassowaries and emus are large, flightless, cursorial birds with diminutive wings. […] Emus, the world's second largest living birds, live in Australia and are the only extant member of the genus Dromaius.2015, Sankar Chatterjee, “The Avian Revolution Begins”, in The Rise of Birds: 225 Million Years of Evolution, 2nd edition, Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, page 191:

Obsolete A cassowary (genus Casuarius).

[page 1] 1. EGGES. Caſſawary, or Emeu, vide Aldrov: p. 542. Harveum, G.A. p. 61. […] [page 3] 4. CLAWES. […] A legge and claw of the Caſſawary or Emeu that dyed at S. James’s, Weſtminſter.1656, John Tradescant [the elder], “Some Kindes of Birds Their Egges, Beaks, Feathers, Clawes, and Spurres”, in Musæum Tradescantianum: Or, A Collection of Rarities. Preserved at South-Lambeth neer London by John Tradescant, London: Printed by John Grismond, and are to be sold by Nathanael Brooke […], →OCLC, pages 1 and 3:
It is a native both of the Eaſt and Weſt Indies; and all the writers on birds have deſscribed it. Aldrovand [Ulisse Aldrovandi] calls it Emeu ſive Eme; Boulius, Emeu vulgo Caſoarius; and others, Caſſuarus.1752, John Hill, “CASUARIUS. [The Cassowary.]”, in An History of Animals. […], London: Printed for Thomas Osborne, […], →OCLC, page 482:

Derived terms: dwarf emu, emu apple, emu berry, emu bob, emu bush, Emu Creek, Emu Heights, emu leather, emu-less, emu-like, emu oil, emu parade, emu patrol, Emu Plains, emu-proof, Emu Swamp, emutail, emu tree, Emu Wars, emuwary, emu-wren
Hyponyms: Kangaroo Island emu, King Island emu, Tasmanian emu