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spatch·cock

(spăchkŏk)

A dressed and split fowl for roasting or grilling.

tr.v. spatch·cocked, spatch·cock·ing, spatch·cocks

1. To prepare (a dressed fowl) for roasting or grilling by splitting open.

2. To introduce or interpose, especially in a labored or unsuitable manner: "Some excerpts from a Renaissance mass are spatchcocked into Gluck's pallid Don Juan music" (Alan Rich).

[Perhaps short for dispatch cock, a cock or chicken that has been killed and dressed in summary manner (from DISPATCH + COCK¹), or perhaps alteration of spitchcock, an eel cut into short pieces, dressed with bread crumbs, and broiled (of unknown origin).]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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