spatchcock
/ˈspatʃkɒk
/noun
A chicken or game bird split open and grilled.He treats the proper cooking of a spatchcock as a matter of import on which worlds will begin and end....
- If a recipe calls for spatchcocks, you can use Cornish game hens
verb [with object]
1Split open (a poultry or game bird) ready for grilling: these small spring chickens can be bought already spatchcocked
1.1 informal, chiefly British Add (a phrase, sentence, clause, etc.) in a context where it is inappropriate: a new clause has been spatchcocked into the Bill...
- She is used to six hours of gymnastics somehow spatchcocked on to a normal school day.
- A shopping bag that had had flour and two types of sugar in it was spatchcocked on the kitchen floor.
- I hated letting down the BarbarbarbarbarBinger (for the party twas her very own) but it was right and proper that I stayed spatchcocked at home.
Origin
Late 18th century (originally an Irish usage): perhaps related to the noun dispatch + cock1, but compare with spitchcock.