dodo

plural dodoes · plural dodos

1. A large, flightless bird, †Raphus cucullatus, related to the pigeon, that is now extinct (since the 1600s) and was native to Mauritius.

   In spite of the most active search, during the last century, no information respecting the dodo was obtained, and some authors have gone so far as to pretend that it never existed; […]

   1835, Charles Lyell, chapter XLI, in Principles of Geology […] , 4th edition, volume III, London: John Murray, Book III, pages 133–134

   2 more examples

   Within a very few years after these islands shall have become regularly settled, in all probability this fox will be classed with the dodo, as an animal which has perished from the face of the earth.

   1839, Charles Darwin, chapter IX, in The Voyage of the Beagle

   Wildlife biologist Stanley Temple hypothesised that perhaps the dodo tree was dependent on its seeds passing through the digestive system of dodos in order to properly germinate and that the handful of individuals in the 1970s were the last remaining trees from seeds that passed through a dodo in the 1690s-1700s when they went extinct.

   2017 May 3, Mark Carnall, “Finding zombies, ghosts and Elvis in the fossil record”, in The Guardian

2. figurativelyA person or organisation which is very old or has very old-fashioned views or is not willing to change and adapt.
3. golfA hole in one.

   "Most of the aces weren't on holes I would have liked to have made them on," confessed Colk, who dropped his fifth dodo of 1935 on December 29, which was believed at the time to be a record for most aces in a year.

   2012, Arv Olson, Backspin: 120 Years of Golf in British Columbia, page 253

1. NigeriauncountableFried plantain.

   One popular Nigerian dish is fried plantain, which is called “dodo.”

   2018, Remmi Smith, The Healthy Teen Cookbook: Around the World In 80 Fantastic Recipes

   2 more examples

   Dodo is everybody's favorite! It is a superb snack, a side dish, a breakfast food or a dessert all rolled into one. The best dodo is made from soft (almost over ripe) plantain which is cut in 1/2 inch thick diagonal slices and fried to a crispy golden brown.

   2015, Kemi Quinn, African Dishes Made Easy

   Mother had banned it a year or so earlier after Obembe and I stole pieces from Mother's cooler, and lied that we'd seen rats eating the dodos.

   2015, Chigozie Obioma, The Fishermen: A Novel