BIRD • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Bird

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/bərd/ Listen

noun

Bird n.

1.

Orig., a chicken; the young of a fowl; a young eaglet; a nestling; and hence, a feathered flying animal (see 2). "That ungentle gull, the cuckoo's bird." "The brydds (birds) of the aier have nestes."

2.

(Zool.) A warm-blooded, feathered vertebrate provided with wings. See Aves.

3.

Specifically, among sportsmen, a game bird.

4.

Fig.: A girl; a maiden. "And by my word! the bonny bird In danger shall not tarry."

Arabian bird, the phenix.

Bird of Jove, the eagle.

Bird of Juno, the peacock.

Bird louse (Zool.), a wingless insect of the group Mallophaga, of which the genera and species are very numerous and mostly parasitic upon birds. Bird mite (Zool.), a small mite (genera Dermanyssus, Dermaleichus and allies) parasitic upon birds. The species are numerous.

Bird of passage, a migratory bird.

Bird spider (Zool.), a very large South American spider (Mygale avicularia). It is said sometimes to capture and kill small birds.

Bird tick (Zool.), a dipterous insect parasitic upon birds (genus Ornithomyia, and allies), usually winged.

verb

Bird v. i.

1.

To catch or shoot birds.

2.

Hence: To seek for game or plunder; to thieve. (R.)

3.

To watch birds, especially in their natural habitats, for enjoyment; to birdwatch.

See images of 'Bird'

Etymology of 'Bird'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Bird" Quotes from Famous Books

... Had not the noble bird been grievously wounded he would have defied the utmost exertions of the little spaniel, but as it was, he could only get for a moment out of the reach of his pursuer by a violent effort, which only left him more exhausted. And now ...

— The Bushman - Life in a New Country • Edward Wilson Landor

... thick with lilies of the valley, Petrushka and Tatiana walked in the woods and picked the last white violets, and later again they sought the alleys of the landlord's property, where the lilac bushes were a mass of blossom and fragrance, and there they listened to the nightingale, the bird of spring. Then came the summer, the fragrance of the beanfields, and the ripening of corn and the wonderful long twilights, and July, when the corn, ripe and tall and stiff, changed the plains into a vast ...

— Orpheus in Mayfair and Other Stories and Sketches • Maurice Baring

... Agriculture.' Well, so far as I can see, it ain't so terrifyin'. That last means raisin' things, like beets an' turnips an' so on, an' as for th' forest part, why, if he stays up in his 'fringe o' pines' I guess we ain't got no call to kick. Don't you worry, Tharon, about this new bird." ...

— Tharon of Lost Valley • Vingie E. Roe

... bird, let me at eve, Thus wandering all alone, Thy tender counsel oft receive, Bear witness to thy pensive airs, And pity Nature's common cares, ...

— Poetical Works of Akenside - [Edited by George Gilfillan] • Mark Akenside

... resulted in the most curious and unlooked for deformities in the embryo, some being not alone peculiar to the bird, but being similar to those which have been recognized in many other animals, and even in the human species. The data obtained have been deemed so important that M. Dareste has recently received the Lacaze prize for physiology from the French ...

— Was Man Created? • Henry A. Mott

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