spinetail

English

Etymology

spine +‎ tail

Noun

spinetail (plural spinetails)

1. Any of several species of swifts of , Chaetura, and allied genera, in which the shafts of the tail feathers terminate in rigid spines.
2. Any of several species of South American and Central American clamatorial birds belonging to Synallaxis and allied genera of the family , allied to the ovenbirds.
3. (US, dialect) The ruddy duck, Oxyura jamaicensis.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “spinetail”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Anagrams

• platinise