plantain-eater

[ plan-tin-ee-ter, -tn- ]

noun

1. any of various touracos, erroneously believed to feed chiefly on plantains and bananas.

plantain-eater

noun

1. another name for touraco

Word History and Origins

Origin of plantain-eater¹

First recorded in 1795–1805

Example Sentences

There was not only the rustle and creak of parting leaves and bending twigs, and the crack of small branches that snapped under his hand; but his intrusion scared the natural denizens of the forest, and they clattered away with loud cries of alarm—grey parrots in hundreds, green pigeons, occasionally a hawk or the great blue plantain-eater.

From Project Gutenberg

Beautifully coloured are the green touraco and the purple plantain-eater, a rascally bird! who eats some of our finest plantains, and has bitten holes in many a one I thought to get entirely to myself.

From Project Gutenberg

An interesting account has lately been given by Professor Church of a new animal pigment, containing copper, found in the feathers of the violet plantain-eater and two species of Turacus, natives respectively of the Gold Coast, the Cape, and Natal.

From Project Gutenberg