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# roadrunner

«roadrunner» in Mova's school dictionary: **a fast bird of the deserts of the south-western USA and…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a roadrunner, roadrunners)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A roadrunner is a fast bird of the deserts of the south-western USA and Mexico that prefers to run rather than fly. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/roadrunner/#m1)

2) The Road Runner is a cartoon bird who always escapes from a hungry coyote (a name of a character). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/roadrunner/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In nature lessons about deserts the roadrunner shows how animals adapt: it can run about 30 km per hour, eats lizards, snakes and insects, and is a kind of cuckoo. Children also know it from the old «Road Runner» cartoons, where it says «meep meep». Phrases: «greater roadrunner», «as fast as a roadrunner».

### examples

- A roadrunner dashed across the desert road in front of our car. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/roadrunner/#x1)
- Roadrunners can catch and eat small rattlesnakes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/roadrunner/#x2)
- The roadrunner is the state bird of New Mexico. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/roadrunner/#x3)
- It can fly, but it would rather run. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/roadrunner/#x4)
- In the cartoon, the coyote never catches the Road Runner. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/roadrunner/#x5)
- Roadrunners sunbathe in the morning to warm up after cold desert nights. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/roadrunner/#x6)
- Our class drew a desert food chain with a roadrunner in it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/roadrunner/#x7)

### note

Plural «roadrunners». Written as one word (also «road runner»). The cartoon name is usually «Road Runner» with capitals. Myth: real roadrunners do not say «meep meep»; they make cooing and clattering sounds.

### In the corpora

- [A coyote can run at about 65 km per hour, and coyotes are among the real predators of roadrunners.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/5-the-desert/17/)
- [A real roadrunner can run at about 30 km per hour, but a real coyote can run about twice as fast.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/94-parrots-flamingos-and-the-bird-of-prey-show/17/)
- [Real roadrunners do not say «meep meep»; they make soft cooing sounds and loud rattles by clattering their beaks.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/122-looney-tunes-real-roadrunner-and-coyote/7/)
- [Roadrunners get most of the water they need from the animals they eat and rarely drink.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/122-looney-tunes-real-roadrunner-and-coyote/17/)
- [A real roadrunner can run about thirty kilometres an hour, but a coyote can run about twice as fast.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/182-deserts-of-the-world-fennec-foxes-fog-drinking-beetles-camels-and-silver-ants/15/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «roadrunner» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/roadrunner/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.