emu

noun

1. A large flightless bird native to Australia, Dromaius novaehollandiae.

   “[page 59] The Emu, though not ſo as large as the oſtrich, is only ſecond to it in magnitude. It is by much the largeſt bird in the New Continent; and is generally found to be ſix feet high, meaſuring from its head to the ground. […] [page 60] [T]he emu runs with ſuch a ſwiftneſs, that the fleeteſt dogs are thrown out in the purſuit.”

   “From New Holland the emeu, / With his better moiety, / Has paid a visit to the Zo- / ological Society.”

   “I left my young emeus […] just parted from their affectionate father, and not yet fully reconciled to beginning the world on their own account.”

   “A stranger cannot but remark, throughout the pastoral districts of Australia, how seldom he sees sheep as he travels along. […] It may be that he will also expect emus and kangaroos, and he will generally be disappointed also in regard to them. Kangaroos I certainly have seen in great numbers, though by no means so often as I expected. An emu running wild I never did see. Tame emus round the houses in towns are very common, and of emus’ eggs there is a plethora.”

   “Both cassowaries and emus are large, flightless, cursorial birds with diminutive wings. […] Emus, the world's second largest living birds, live in Australia and are the only extant member of the genus Dromaius.”

2. (obsolete)A cassowary (genus Casuarius).

   “[page 1] 1. EGGES. Caſſawary, or Emeu, vide Aldrov: p. 542. Harveum, G.A. p. 61. […] [page 3] 4. CLAWES. […] A legge and claw of the Caſſawary or Emeu that dyed at S. James’s, Weſtminſter.”

   “It is a native both of the Eaſt and Weſt Indies; and all the writers on birds have deſscribed it. Aldrovand [Ulisse Aldrovandi] calls it Emeu ſive Eme; Boulius, Emeu vulgo Caſoarius; and others, Caſſuarus.”

3. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of electromagnetic unit.

   “A bar magnet NS has poles of strength 144 emu, 5 cm apart.”

   “Rock Magnetic Properties as Related to a Magnetometer Profile for Serpentines, Sierra Nevada, California / DuBOIS, ROBERT L., Dept. Geology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz. / The remanent magnetism of a suite of specimens from a serpentine mass in the Sierra Nevada, California, has a declination of N. 32°E. and an inclination of plus 84°. The average intensity is 80 × 10⁻⁵ emu/cc.”

   “The amount of charge named by one emu is that which produces a unit magnetic effect when flowing in a current at one unit length per second.”

   “Early investigations showed no detectable magnetic intensity in tektite glass, at the level of about 10⁻⁴ emu/g. (To convert measurements in emu/g to S.I., multiply by 10³.)”

   “Experimentally the magnetic moment is usually given in units of emu/g, emu/cm³ or emu/mole.”

4. (abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, informal)Clipping of emulator.

   “Saw this article for playing downloadable games on GBA. It's an official Nintendo product in Japan, and thought it might be useful for Nintendo to release actual emus and some of their older game properties (beyond the $20 classic series).”

5. (abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable)Initialism of English metric unit (“1/360,000-th of a centimetre, or, 1/914400-th of an inch”).
6. (abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism)Initialism of electric multiple unit.

   “The Government has thrown a lifeline to Alstom's Derby Works, with an offer of an order for ten Class 345 nine-car electric multiple units (EMUs) for the Elizabeth line - but only if the 'price is right'.”

7. (alt-of, alternative, countable, uncountable)Alternative form of emu or e.m.u.; Initialism of electromagnetic unit.
8. (abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable)Initialism of engine management unit.
9. (abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable)Initialism of extravehicular mobility unit (“spacesuit”).
10. (abbreviation, alt-of, countable, initialism, uncountable)Initialism of economic and monetary union.

name

1. A constellation or asterism from Australian aborigine cultures, a dark constellation pattern formed by an arrangement of dark nebulae in the sky, blotting out background stars, appearing akin to the emu (giant bird of Australia).
2. A locality in the Shire of Loddon, Shire of Central Goldfields and the Shire of Northern Grampians, north western Victoria, Australia
3. (European-Union, abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of European Monetary Union.
4. (abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of Eastern Mennonite University.