The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
adj. Relating to or being any of a group of flightless birds having a flat breastbone without the keellike prominence characteristic of most flying birds.
n. A bird of the order of Struthioniformes, a diverse group of large running, flightless birds, mostly extinct, but including the cassowary, elephant bird, emu, kiwi, moa, ostrich, rhea and tinamou
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
adj. Of or pertaining to the Ratitæ.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
Raft-breasted, as a bird; having a flat breast-bone or sternum with no keel; having no keel, as a breast-bone; ecarinate; of or pertaining to the.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
n. flightless birds having flat breastbones lacking a keel for attachment of flight muscles: ostriches; cassowaries; emus; moas; rheas; kiwis; elephant birds
Word Usage
"Given that a few other Eocene European tetrapods have been suggested to be particularly closely related to South American taxa (namely the ratite Palaeotis, the peradectine opossums and the supposed anteater Eurotamandua), Ameghinornis and Aenigmavis were thought to perhaps indicate that phorusrhacids had originated in Europe and later spread (via Africa) to South America (Peters & Storch 1993)."