Definition of "pheasant"

Or sometimes, passing too near a sequestered copse, the shy tenants were startled, and the superb plumage of the pheasant dashed aside the branches, and the stately bird soared up on rattling wing.

1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), page 80

Tables were laid with cold pheasant, watercressy finger foods, sweets sufficient to give the Greater Raleigh Area sugar shock.

1989, Allan Gurganus, “Black, White, and Lilac”, in Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, book two (Time Does That), page 231

Célestin Lainé sat on the edge of the bed, a tray on his lap, eating pheasant and roast vegetables with a red wine reduction.

2013, Stuart Neville, chapter 30, in Ratlines, New York, N.Y.: Soho Crime, page 158

Bring a dish of berries with cream to me there. Bread, too. And a slice of pheasant.

2015, Shauna Roberts, chapter 41, in Ice Magic, Fire Magic, Overland Park, Kan.: Hadley Rille Books, page 266