GIZZARD

gizzard, ventriculus, gastric mill

(noun) thick-walled muscular pouch below the crop in many birds and reptiles for grinding food

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

gizzard (plural gizzards)

A portion of the esophagus of either a bird or an annelid that contains ingested grit and is used to grind up ingested food before it is transferred to the stomach.

Source: Wiktionary

Giz"zard, n. Etym: [F. gésier, L. gigeria, pl., the cooked entrails of poultry. Cf. Gigerium.]

1. (Anat.)

Definition: The second, or true, muscular stomach of birds, in which the food is crushed and ground, after being softened in the glandular stomach (crop), or lower part of the esophagus; the gigerium.

2. (Zoöl.) (a) A thick muscular stomach found in many invertebrate animals. (b) A stomach armed with chitinous or shelly plates or teeth, as in certain insects and mollusks. Gizzard shad (Zoöl.), an American herring (Dorosoma cepedianum) resembling the shad, but of little value.

– To fret the gizzard, to harass; to vex one's self; to worry. [Low] Hudibras.

– To stick in one's gizzard, to be difficult of digestion; to be offensive. [Low]

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition