Brĕv'i-pĕn'nate, a.

a. [Lat. brevis, short, and pennatus, furnished with feathers or wings; from penna, feather, wing; Fr. brévipenne.] (Ornith.) Short-winged; having wings that are half-fledged, and therefore short; — applied to a division of birds which can not fly, owing to their size and short wings, including the ostrich, cassowary, swan, dodo, &c., in which the plumage is not fully developed, and other marks exist of inferior development corresponding to the chicken state of flying birds. See BIRD.