MAGPIE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Magpie

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/mˈægpˌaɪ/ Listen

noun

Magpie n. (Zool.)

1.

Any one of numerous species of the genus Pica and related genera, allied to the jays, but having a long graduated tail.

2.

Any one of several black-and-white birds, such as Gymnorhina tibicen, not belonging to the genus Pica. Note: The common European magpie (Pica pica, or Pica caudata) is a black and white noisy and mischievous bird. It can be taught to speak. The American magpie (Pica Hudsonica) is very similar. The yellow-belled magpie (Pica Nuttalli) inhabits California. The blue magpie (Cyanopolius Cooki) inhabits Spain. Other allied species are found in Asia. The Tasmanian and Australian magpies are crow shrikes, as the white magpie (Gymnorhina organicum), the black magpie (Strepera fuliginosa), and the Australian magpie (Cracticus picatus).

3.

A talkative person; a chatterbox.

Magpie lark (Zool.), a common Australian bird (Grallina picata), conspicuously marked with black and white; called also little magpie.

Magpie moth (Zool.), a black and white European geometrid moth (Abraxas grossulariata); the harlequin moth. Its larva feeds on currant and gooseberry bushes.

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Etymology of 'Magpie'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Magpie" Quotes from Famous Books

... through the hamlet of Palaiseau, on our return to Paris; and saw in it the steeple where the magpie concealed the silver spoons he had stolen, and which occasioned the event from which the drama of La Pie Voleuse, known in so many languages, ...

— The Idler in France • Marguerite Gardiner

... three miles. He doubted whether they could be the same; but their number, and the extreme rapidity with which they continued their course, convinced him that they must have gone with a speed equal to that of the most distinguished race-horse. Among our acquisitions to-day were a mule-deer, a magpie, a common deer, and buffalo: Captain Lewis also saw a hare, and killed a rattlesnake near the burrows of the ...

— First Across the Continent • Noah Brooks

... their songs, must necessarily have excited the fetishtic fancy of primitive men. The worship of birds was therefore universal, in connection with that of trees, meteors, and waters. They were supposed to cause storms; and the eagle, the falcon, the magpie, and some other birds brought the celestial fire on the earth. The worship of birds is also common in America, and in Central America the bird voc is the messenger of Hurakau, the god of storms. The ...

— Myth and Science - An Essay • Tito Vignoli

... for me. She was not at home, but her little niece, who lives with her, a child of four years old, said that Aunt Mary would be in directly, and asked me to walk into the parlour. I did so, and the little thing stood by my side chattering away like a magpie. In reply to my questions as to whether she liked to live with her aunt, what she amused herself with, &c., &c., she entered into a long account of her various playthings, and ended by saying that she would show me a beautiful ...

— Friends and Neighbors - or Two Ways of Living in the World • Anonymous

... fair and strong from the southeast. The chaloupe ran swiftly along the coast past the broad mouth of the River Saint-Jean, with its cluster of white cottages past the hill-encircled bay of the River Magpie, with its big fish-houses past the fire-swept cliffs of Riviere-au-Tonnerre, and the turbulent, rocky shores of the Sheldrake: past the silver cascade of the Riviere-aux-Graines, and the mist of the hidden fall of the Riviere Manitou: ...

— The Ruling Passion • Henry van Dyke

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