bantam

Borrowed from Dutch Bantam (Banten province in Java).

• IPA^(key): /ˈbæntəm/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æntəm

bantam (plural bantams)

1. Any of several small chickens, especially of a breed that is a miniature version of another breed.
   • 1829, Caroline Bowles Southey, Chapters on Churchyards, page 114:

     From the dairy we passed into the poultry-yard; and there I was introduced to a train of milk-white turkeys, and fowls of the same colour, a few bantams, and three galenies, Mrs. Helen's especial favourites, […]

2. (sports) A competitor in an age division between peewee and midget.

bantam (not comparable)

1. Small or miniature.
   • 2013 April 1, Natalie Angier, “Nature’s Drone, Pretty and Deadly”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     Dragonflies may be bantam, but their appetite is bottomless.

2. Spirited or aggressive.

• Batman, batman