Definition of "ostrich" []

• A large, swift-running flightless bird (Struthio camelus) of Africa, characterized by a long bare neck, small head, and two-toed feet. It is the largest living bird. (noun)
• A rhea. (noun)
• One who tries to avoid disagreeable situations by refusing to face them. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Then he began to lose his birds by accident, by the destructive propensities of the goblin and a vicious old hen or two; and lastly, some kind of epidemic, which they dubbed ostrich chicken-pox, carried the young birds off wholesale."
• "But the ostrich is a monster in nature, for she drops her eggs any where upon the ground and takes no care to hatch them."
• "The ostrich is right between the Tin Man and Dorothys head!"