biset

plural bisets

1. mathematicsA pair of ordered sets of the same magnitude.

1. uncountableA species of pigeon, Columba livia.

   The bisque was a soup of the biset — with the biset added to it in the tureen together with a ragout or relish.

   1877, Eneas Sweetland Dallas, Kettner's Book of the Table, page 70

   4 more examples

   This supposition is doubtless erroneous, as we do not find among them any indications of such an origin, and the ringdove, will not propagate with the biset, even in a state of captivity.

   1829, Georges Cuvier, Edward Griffith, The animal kingdom - Volume 8, page 276

   Only four species of the common pigeons are found wild in this last part of the globe; from one of them, the biset or wild rock pigeon, as is supposed, are descended all the various races which we find in a state of domestication.

   1859, History of the Earth and Animated Nature

   Buffon, in accordance with his whimsical idea of referring foreign species to those of Europe, considers the present as a variety of the biset (Columba livia, Briss.

   1876, Alexander Wilson, Charles Lucian Bonaparte, William Jardine, American Ornithology

   Four varietles of pigeon still exist in a wild state in France—the biset, the wood pigeon, the rock pigeon, and the turtledove. The biset variety is the foundation of all domesticated varieties in France.

   1913, Daily Consular and Trade Reports - Part 1, Issues 1-74, page 582