sparrow
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈspæɹəʊ/
ipa: /ˈspæɹoʊ/
ipa: /ˈspɛɹoʊ/
rhymes: -æɹəʊ
Forms: form: sparrows
Etymology: From Middle English sparwe, sparowe, from Old English spearwa, from Proto-West Germanic *sparwō, from Proto-Germanic *sparwô, from Proto-Indo-European *spḗr (“sparrow”).
Cognate with Dutch spreeuw (“starling”), Alemannic German Spar (“sparrow”), German Sperling (“sparrow”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål spurv (“sparrow”), Norwegian Nynorsk sporv (“sparrow”), Swedish sparv (“sparrow”), Breton frao (“crow”), Tocharian A ṣpārāñ, Ancient Greek ψάρ (psár, “starling”).
Senses: examples: text: Man progresses generally, not both legs at once like a sparrow, but by putting one leg forward first, and then the other.
ref: 1920, Edward Carpenter, Pagan and Christian Creeds, New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., published 1921, page 192:
text: In a poem by Sappho, Aphrodite is represented as riding in a car drawn by sparrows.
ref: 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 87:
synonyms: word: spadger
word: spoggy
word: spuggy
glosses: The house sparrow, Passer domesticus; a small bird with a short bill, and brown, white and gray feathers.
glosses: A member of the family Passeridae, comprising small Old World songbirds.
glosses: A member of the family Passerellidae (or Emberizidae, under classification systems that subsume the New World sparrows under Emberizidae), comprising small New World songbirds.
glosses: Generically, any small, nondescript bird.
examples: text: cockney sparrow
text: I take it there 's scarcely a happier fellow alive than your honest town-bred smoke-dried cockney sparrow.
ref: 1878, Charles Henry Ross, Ally Sloper's guide to the Paris exhibition, page 54:
text: Professional cockney sparrow Martine has acted since childhood.
ref: 2005, Drama Faces: Martine McCutcheon, BBC:
glosses: A quick-witted, lively person.
Hyponyms: American sparrow
American tree sparrow
Bachman's sparrow
barley sparrow
Bell's sparrow
Botteri's sparrow
bush sparrow
Cape sparrow
Cassin's sparrow
chipping sparrow
cock-sparrow
cock sparrow
crown sparrow
diamond sparrow
English sparrow
Eurasian tree sparrow
field sparrow
Forbush's sparrow
fox sparrow
German sparrow
grasshopper sparrow
grass sparrow
ground sparrow
Harris's sparrow
hedge sparrow
Henslow's sparrow
hen sparrow
house sparrow
Ipswich sparrow
Italian sparrow
Java sparrow
lark sparrow
LeConte's sparrow
Lincoln's sparrow
mountain sparrow
native sparrow
Nelson's sparrow
New World sparrow
night sparrow
Old World sparrow
paradise sparrow
reed sparrow
ring sparrow
rock sparrow
rufous-collared sparrow
rufous-crowned sparrow
russet sparrow
sagebrush sparrow
sage sparrow
saltmarsh sparrow
Savannah sparrow
saxaul sparrow
seaside sparrow
sharp-tailed sparrow
snow sparrow
song sparrow
Spanish sparrow
Texas sparrow
tree sparrow
true sparrow
vesper sparrow
water sparrow
white-crowned sparrow
white-throated sparrow
Zapata sparrow
Derived terms: olive sparrow
sparrow dominoes
sparrow-fart
sparrow fart
sparrow grass
sparrow-grass
sparrowhawk
sparrow hawk
sparrowish
sparrowlark
sparrow-lark
sparrowless
sparrowlike
sparrow mumbling
sparrow owl
sparrow-proof
sparrow shot
sparrows' wedding
sparrow-weaver
sparrow weaver
sparrowwort