elephant bird

noun

|Updated on: 21 Jun 2018

Definition of elephant bird

: any of a group (genus Aepyornis or order Aepyornithiformes) of gigantic flightless ratite birds known only from remains found in Madagascar

Recent Examples of elephant bird from the Web

Leacock hopes that the newfound specimen at the Buffalo Science Museum will prove valuable to experts who are interested in the elephant bird.

— brigit katz, Smithsonian, "Giant, Intact Egg of the Extinct Elephant Bird Found in Buffalo Museum," 23 Apr. 2018
Experts say there are fewer than 40 intact elephant bird eggs held in public institutions.

— stephen sorace, Fox News, "Egg of extinct elephant bird was mislabeled as fake for decades, museum realizes," 25 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'elephant bird.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.