n. & v.
--n. a chicken or esp. game bird split open and grilled.
--v.tr.
1. treat (poultry) in this way.
2 colloq. insert or interpolate (a phrase, sentence, story, etc.) esp. incongruously.
Etymology: orig. in Ir. use, expl. by Grose (1785) as f. dispatch-cock, but cf. SPITCHCOCK