murmurate

English

Verb

murmurate (third-person singular simple present murmurates, present participle murmurating, simple past and past participle murmurated)

1. (intransitive) Of starlings, to gather in large flocks at dusk.
   • 2009, Daniel Butler, The mathematics of murmurating starlings, The Telegraph:

     By dusk this murmurating cloud can number thousands or even millions of birds.

   • 2013, Ruth Bass, Word playing gives birds new nicknames, The Berkshire Eagle:

     There's a glister of goldfinches, an exaltation of larks, a swoop of swallows, a chain of bobolinks, a scold of blue jays, a murmuration of starlings, which are at their best when they murmurate by the hundreds across a gray sky.

Related terms

• murmuration

Esperanto

Adverb

murmurate

1. present adverbial passive participle of murmuri

Latin

Participle

murmurāte

1. vocative masculine singular of murmurātus

Spanish

Verb

murmurate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of murmurar combined with te