Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AV'O-SET, or AV-O-SET'TA, n.

In ornithology, a species of fowls, arranged under the genus Recurvirostra, and placed by Linnæus in the Grallic order, but by Pennant and Latham among the Palmipeds. The bill is long, slender, flexible and bent upward toward the tip. This bird is of the size of a lapwing, with very long legs, and the feathers variegated with black and white. It is found both in Europe and America. – Encyc.