See Also: Bird flu(health)
T-bird(dictionary)
Big Bird(dictionary)
bird(encyclopedia)
Bird Dog(money)
qua-bird(dictionary)
egg-bird(medicine)
hum-bird(dictionary)
ho-ho bird(dictionary)
qua-bird(medicine)

bird(1) (iou)



bird noun.
[Old English brid, (late Northumbrian) bird, of unkn. origin and without cognates.]
A nestling, a fledgling; a chick. Long obsolete exc. north. OE.
A feathered, warm-blooded, amniote animal of the vertebrate class Aves, characterized by modification of the forelimbs as wings for flight, oviparous reproduction, and care for the young. ME.
game-bird: see GAME noun.
b. Sport. A game-bird; spec. a partridge; fig. prey. LME.
A maiden, a girl; a young woman. (Orig. a var. of BURD, later taken as fig. use of sense 1 or 2.) Now slang (freq. derog.). ME.
A person (freq. with specifying adjective). colloq. M19.
A first-rate person, animal, or thing. US slang. M19.
[Abbreviation of BIRDLIME noun 2.] A prison sentence; prison. slang. E20.
An aeroplane; a missile, rocket, satellite, spacecraft, etc. slang. M20.
In badminton: a shuttlecock. L20.
Phrases: a bird in the hand something certain. a little bird an unnamed informant. ARABIAN bird. Bird of Freedom US the emblematic bald eagle of the US. bird of Jove the eagle. bird of Juno the peacock. bird of paradise (a) any of the family Paradisaeidae of passerine birds, mostly native to New Guinea, which are remarkable for the beauty and brilliance of their plumage; (b) (the Bird of Paradise) = APUS; (c) bird-of-paradise flower = STRELITZIA. bird of passage: see PASSAGE noun. bird of prey a bird that kills and feeds on the flesh of other animals; spec. one belonging to the orders Cathartiformes, Accipitiformes, or Falconiformes (or sometimes Strigiformes). birds of a feather those of like character. box of birds: see BOX noun2. for the birds = strictly for the birds below. hear a bird sing: see SING verb1. kill two birds with one stone achieve two aims at once. like a bird swiftly; easily; without resistance or hesitation. old bird: see OLD adjective. rare bird: see RARE adjective1. singing bird: see SINGING ppl adjective. soldier bird: see SOLDIER noun. stinking bird: see STINKING adjective. strictly for the birds trivial; appealing only to the gullible. the bird, the big bird slang (orig. Theatrical) hissing and booing; dismissal, the sack; (esp. in get the bird, give the big bird, etc.). the bird has flown the prisoner etc. has escaped. the bird in the bosom one's own secret or pledge, one's conscience. the birds and the bees euphem. (colloq.) details of human sexual functions. the early bird one who rises early or acts promptly.
Comb.: bird-banding = bird-ringing below; bird-bath a basin in a garden etc. with water for birds to bathe in; bird-bolt a blunt-headed arrow used for shooting birds; birdbrain colloq. a birdbrained person; birdbrained adjective (colloq.) stupid, flighty; birdcage a (usu. wire) cage for a bird or birds; an object of similar design; slang a paddock at a racecourse; bird-call the natural call of a bird; an instrument imitating this; bird cherry a Eurasian wild cherry, Prunus padus (in Britain mostly northern), which bears its flowers in long racemes; bird dog N. Amer. a gun dog trained to retrieve birds; also, a tout; bird-eating spider any of various large tropical spiders which occasionally trap small birds; bird-fancier a person who knows about, collects, breeds, or deals in, birds; bird-fancier's lung, a respiratory disease caused by inhaling dust consisting of feathers, droppings, and other organic matter from birds; bird-life = AVIFAUNA; birdman (a) a man who catches, sells, etc. birds; colloq. an ornithologist; (b) colloq. an airman; bird-mouthed adjective unwilling to speak out; bird pepper a tropical American capsicum pepper, Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum or C. frutescens var. typicum, thought to be the ancestor of both sweet and chilli peppers; bird-ringing the fixing of an identifying band to a bird's leg; bird sanctuary an area where birds are protected and encouraged to breed; bird's-beak moulding a moulding which in cross-section forms an ovolo or ogee with or without a fillet under it, followed by a hollow; birdseed special seeds given as food to caged birds; bird's-eye (a) any of various plants with small round bright flowers, esp. a primrose, Primula farinosa (usu. bird's-eye primrose), having yellow-centred purple flowers, and germander speedwell, Veronica chamaedrys; (b) manufactured tobacco with the ribs of the leaves cut along with the fibre; (c) (a fabric woven in) a design consisting in a small diamond with a centre dot; (d) attrib. of or pertaining to a bird's eye; marked as with bird's eyes, spotted; bird's eye view, a view from overhead of a landscape etc., such as a bird might have, fig. a resume or overview of a subject; bird's-foot (a) any of various objects, esp. plants, resembling a bird's foot; spec. a vetch, Ornithopus perpusillus, having claw-shaped seed-pods; (b) attrib.: bird's-foot delta, a delta built out from a coastline by deposition along a number of channels; bird's-foot fenugreek, a small white-flowered clover, Trifolium ornithopodioides, sometimes classified with the fenugreeks (Trigonella); bird's-foot fern, a small fern, Pellaea mucronata, native to the south-western US; bird's-foot trefoil, a superficially trifoliate leguminous plant of the genus Lotus, esp. L. corniculatus, with yellow flowers streaked with red and pods that spread like a bird's claw; bird's-foot violet, a violet, Viola pedata, of the eastern US; bird shot the smallest size of shot (for sporting-rifles etc.); bird's nest (a) the nest of a bird; bird's-nest soup, soup made from the edible nests of SE Asian swifts of the genus Aerodramus; (b) (usu. with hyphen) any of various plants, esp. the wild carrot and either of two saprophytic plants, Neottia nidus-avis (usu. called bird's-nest orchid) and Monotropa hypopitys (usu. called yellow bird's-nest); bird's-nest verb intrans. search for birds' nests, usu. to take the eggs; bird's-nesting (a) the action or occupation of searching for birds' nests; (b) the furring of a passage, spec. of a boiler tube; birdsong the musical call or sound made by a bird or birds; bird-strike a collision between an aircraft and a bird or birds; bird table a raised platform on which food for birds is placed; bird-watch verb intrans. engage in bird-watching; bird-watcher one who observes birds in their natural surroundings; bird-watching the occupation of a bird-watcher; bird-witted adjective (colloq.) lacking the faculty of attention.
birdless adjective having no birds, unfrequented by birds E16.
birdlike adjective resembling (that of) a bird L16.