capon
/ˈkeɪp(ə)n
/noun
A castrated domestic cock fattened for eating.We use the term broiler production to capture the Census of Agriculture category which includes ‘broilers, fryers, and other chickens raised for meat production, including capons and roasters’....
- C. Anne Wilson quotes an ordinance of Richard II in 1378 for prices charged by cooks and pie bakers, including those for capons and hens baked in pasties.
- Although some references explain its etymology as being from old French hutaudeau, meaning a pullet (a young hen), the derivation was in fact hétoudeau or hétourdeau which was a capon (a fattened cock fowl).
Derivatives
caponize
/ (also caponise) verb ...- Daddy was a real, live soldier, a trained 82nd Airborne killing machine who could coolly cut a throat or methodically caponize a chicken in the field.
- Why would one caponize a rooster?
- I will try valiantly to make the time to caponize another batch of cockerels this year, and will report on the results.
Origin
Late Old English: from Old French, based on Latin capo, capon-.