bird
See also: Bird
English
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Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: bû(r)d, IPA(key): /bɜːd/
- (General American) IPA(key): /bɝd/, [bɝɖ]
- (Indian English) IPA(key): /bɜd/
- Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)d
Etymology 1
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English brid, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English bird, brid, bridd (“young bird, chick”), of uncertain origin and relation.
Noun
bird (plural birds)
- A member of the class of animals Aves in the phylum Chordata, characterized by being warm-blooded, having feathers and wings usually capable of flight, and laying eggs.
- Ducks and sparrows are birds.
- 2004, Bruce Whittington, Loucas Raptis, Seasons with Birds, page 50:
- The level below this is called the Phylum; birds belong to the Phylum Chordata, which includes all the vertebrate animals (the sub-phylum Vertebrata) and a few odds and ends.
- (slang) A man, fellow. [from the mid-19th c.]
- 1886, Edmund Routledge, Routledge's every boy's annual
- He once took in his own mother, and was robbed by a 'pal,' who thought he was a doctor. Oh, he's a rare bird is 'Gentleman Joe'!
- 1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin 2011, page 24:
- The door opened and a tall hungry-looking bird with a cane and a big nose came in neatly, shut the door behind him against the pressure of the door closer, marched over to the desk and placed a wrapped parcel on the desk.
- 2006, Jeff Fields, Terry Kay, A cry of angels
- "Ah, he's a funny bird," said Phaedra, throwing a leg over the sill.
- 1886, Edmund Routledge, Routledge's every boy's annual
- (UK, US, slang) A girl or woman, especially one considered sexually attractive.
- (Can we date this quote by Campbell and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- And by my word! the bonny bird / In danger shall not tarry.
- 2013, Russell Brand, Russell Brand and the GQ awards: 'It's amazing how absurd it seems' (in The Guardian, 13 September 2013)[1]
- The usual visual grammar was in place – a carpet in the street, people in paddocks awaiting a brush with something glamorous, blokes with earpieces, birds in frocks of colliding colours that if sighted in nature would indicate the presence of poison.
- 2017, David Weigel, The Show That Never Ends: The Rise and Fall of Prog Rock, W. W. Norton & Company.
- “All these fantastic birds, long hair, made up, false eyelashes and things, crowding round this group of scabby, spotty teenagers,” marveled Anderson.
- (Can we date this quote by Campbell and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- (UK, Ireland, slang) Girlfriend. [from the early 20th c.]
- Mike went out with his bird last night.
- 2002, “Geezers need excitement”, in Mike Skinner (lyrics), Original Pirate Material, performed by The Streets:
- But all of a sudden though, just through the smoke / It's your bird laughing and joking with a bloke / Ain't just that either, as she moves closer / In a shape what looks like they're lovers, he's tonguing her!
- (slang) An airplane.
- (slang) A satellite.
- 1988, Satellite communications. Jan-Oct. 1988
- Deployment of the fourth bird "should ensure that Inmarsat has sufficient capacity in orbit in the early 1990s, taking into account the possibility of launch failures and the age of some of the spacecraft in the Inmarsat first generation system
- 1992, Cable Vision
- Will a government- backed APSTAR satellite knock out a planned AsiaSat II bird?
- 2015, John Fuller, Thor's Legions: Weather Support to the U.S. Air Force and Army, 1937-1987, Springer →ISBN, page 384
- In reality, the Air Force was never able to place a bird in orbit that quickly.
- 1988, Satellite communications. Jan-Oct. 1988
- (obsolete) A chicken; the young of a fowl; a young eaglet; a nestling.
Synonyms
- (member of class Aves): fowl, avian
- (man): chap, bloke, guy
- (woman): broad, chick, dame, girl, lass
- See also Thesaurus:woman
- See also Thesaurus:girl
Hyponyms
- See also Thesaurus:bird
Derived terms
Terms derived from bird
- a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
- adult bird
- a little bird told me
- aquatic bird
- band birds
- beach birds
- bird aircraft strike hazard (BASH)
- big bird
- Big Bird
- bird bath
- birdbeak dogfish (Deania calcea)
- birdbrain, bird brain
- birdbrained, bird-brained
- birdbrained person
- birdcage
- birdcage clock
- birdcall, bird-call, bird call
- birdcall imitation, bird-call imitation, bird call imitation
- birdcall imitator, bird-call imitator, bird call imitator
- birdcatcher, bird-catcher, bird catcher
- birdcatching, bird-catching, bird catching
- bird-catching net
- bird colony
- bird dealer, bird-dealer
- bird-do
- bird dog, bird-dog, bird-dogged, bird-dogging
- birder
- bird eye
- bird feeder, birdfeeder
- bird flu
- birdfood, bird food
- bird-foot
- bird-footed dinosaur
- bird hatch
- bird hatching
- bird-hipped
- bird-hipped dinosaur
- birdhouse, bird-house, bird house
- birdie, birdied, birdieing
- bird influenza
- birdiness
- bird in the hand, bird in hand
- birding
- birdlet
- bird life
- birdlike, bird-like
- birdlime, birdlimed, birdliming
- birdlimer
- bird louse
- birdlover, bird-lover, bird lover
- birdloving, bird-loving, bird loving
- birdly
- birdman
- birdo
- bird of freedom
- bird of ill omen
- bird of Jove
- bird of Juno
- bird of paradise
- bird-of-paradise
- Bird of Paradise
- bird-of-paradise flower
- bird of passage
- bird of peace
- bird of prey
- bird pepper
- birdseed
- birdseller, bird-seller
- bird's eye
- bird's-eye map
- bird's-eye maple, bird's eye maple (Acer saccharum)
- bird's-eye maple wood veneer
- bird's-eye primrose
- bird's-eye speedwell
- bird's-eye view
- bird's-foot
- bird's-foot trefoil
- bird's-foot violet
- bird shit
- birdshot, bird shot
- bird's mouth
- bird's-nest orchid
- bird's-nest soup, bird's nest soup
- birds of a feather, birds of a feather flock together
- birdsong
- birds of paradise, birds-of-paradise
- bird spider
- bird's tooth
- birdstore, bird store
- birdstrike, bird strike
- Birds’ Wedding
- bird table
- birdwatcher, bird-watcher, bird watcher
- birdwatching, bird-watching, bird watching
- birdwoman
- birdy
- clever bird
- cock bird, cock-bird
- dickeybird, dickybird
- do bird
- early bird
- eat like a bird
- European bird cherry
- fine feathers make fine birds
- frigate bird
- for the birds
- funny bird
- gamebird, game-bird, game bird
- gamebird farmer, game-bird farmer
- gay old bird
- get the bird
- give somebody the bird, give someone the bird
- hen bird
- hummingbird, humming-bird, humming bird
- kill two birds with one stone
- like a bird
- little bird
- migratory bird
- odd bird
- old bird
- queer bird
- rare bird
- seabird
- shorebird, shore bird
- strange bird
- the bird has flown, the bird is flown
- the birds and the bees
- the early bird catches the worm
- waterbird, water bird
Translations
animal
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person
woman
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girlfriend
See also
Verb
bird (third-person singular simple present birds, present participle birding, simple past and past participle birded)
- (intransitive) To observe or identify wild birds in their natural environment.
- (intransitive) To catch or shoot birds.
- (intransitive, figuratively) To seek for game or plunder; to thieve.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Ben Jonson to this entry?)
Etymology 2
Originally Cockney rhyming slang, shortened from bird-lime for "time".
Noun
bird (plural birds)
- (slang, uncountable) A prison sentence.
- He’s doing bird.
- A yardbird
Synonyms
Translations
prison sentence
Verb
bird (third-person singular simple present birds, present participle birding, simple past and past participle birded)
- (transitive, slang) To bring into prison, to roof.
- 2017, “No Hook”, ZK & Digga D (lyrics), CDM (music):
- Free Criminal, he got birded
That's a L but I know he’ll firm it
I was vexed when I heard that verdict
Translations
to bring into prison, to roof
Etymology 3
Dated in the mid‐18th Century; derived from the expression “to give the big bird”, as in “to hiss someone like a goose”.
Noun
the bird (uncountable)
- The vulgar hand gesture in which the middle finger is extended.
- 2002, The Advocate, "Flying fickle finger of faith", page 55.
- For whatever reason — and there are so many to chose from — they flipped the bird in the direction of the tinted windows of the Bushmobile.
- 2003, James Patterson and Peter De Jonge, The Beach House, Warner Books, page 305,
- Then she raised both hands above her shoulders and flipped him the bird with each one.
- 2002, The Advocate, "Flying fickle finger of faith", page 55.
Derived terms
Translations
vulgar hand gesture
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References
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “bird”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- bird on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- Category:Aves on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
- Aves on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
- “bird”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Anagrams
Categories:
- Visual dictionary
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)d
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- English slang
- British English
- American English
- Requests for date/Campbell
- English terms with quotations
- Irish English
- English terms with obsolete senses
- Requests for date/Shakespeare
- Buginese terms with non-redundant manual script codes
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- Requests for quotations/Ben Jonson
- English uncountable nouns
- English transitive verbs
- English basic words
- en:Birds
- en:Vertebrates