WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Giz"zard
Part of Speech : n.
Etymology : [F. g?sier, L. gigeria, pl., the cooked entrails of poultry. Cf. Gigerium.]
Definition : 1. (Anat.)

Defn: 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. (Zo?l.) (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 (Zo?l.), 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