bird
Part of speech: noun
verb
adj
Morphological type: simple
Topics: broadcasting
media
television
Etymology: Etymology tree
Old English bridd
Middle English brid
English bird
From Middle English bird, brid, from Old English bridd (“chick, fledgling, chicken”), of uncertain origin (see Old English bridd for more). Originally from a term used of birds that could not fly (chicks, fledglings, chickens) as opposed to the general Old English term for flying birds, fugol (modern fowl). Gradually replaced fowl as the most common term starting in the 14th century.
The "booing/jeering" and "vulgar hand gesture" senses derived from the expression “to give the big bird”, as in “to hiss someone like a goose”, dated in the mid‐18th century.
Inflected forms:
form: birds
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: birds
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: birding
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: birded
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: birded
pos: verb
tags: past
form: birdier
pos: adj
tags: comparative
rare
form: birdiest
pos: adj
tags: rare
superlative
Senses:
gloss: An animal of the clade (traditionally class) Aves in the phylum Chordata, characterized by being warm-blooded, having feathers and wings usually capable of flight, having a beaked mouth, and laying eggs.
pos: noun
examples: Ducks and sparrows are birds.
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.
gloss: A young bird, a nestling.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
examples: […] the foxes have holes, and the brydds of the aier have nestes, but [t]he sonne of the man hath not where onto leye his heede: […]
That ungentle gull, the cuckoo's bird.
gloss: A man, fellow.
pos: noun
tags: slang
examples: 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'!
"What I mean - I expect that old, red-headed bird at the office sent you round with no other purpose."
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.
"But you think he's right?" "Could be. They're rum birds, all right."
"Ah, he's a funny bird," said Phaedra, throwing a leg over the sill.
gloss: A girl or woman, especially one considered sexually attractive.
pos: noun
tags: Ireland
UK
colloquial
examples: And by my word! the bonny bird / In danger shall not tarry.
After tea, the bright boys wash, clean their boots, and change into their “second-best” attire, and stroll forth[…]; sometimes to saunter, in company with others, up and down that parade until they “click” with one of the “birds.”
Are you calling me “darlin’”? / Are you calling me “bird”?
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.
“All these fantastic birds, long hair, made up, false eyelashes and things, crowding round this group of scabby, spotty teenagers,” marveled Anderson.
gloss: A girl or woman, especially one considered sexually attractive.
pos: noun
tags: Ireland
UK
broadly
colloquial
examples: Mike went out with his bird last night.
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!
gloss: An aircraft.
pos: noun
tags: slang
examples: “Cabin cleaners? They have worked on this bird. Don't you know you've always got to clean up after the cleaners? What they don't teach you in school these days.”
Any of our birds squawking?
gloss: A satellite.
pos: noun
tags: slang
examples: 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
Will a government- backed APSTAR satellite knock out a planned AsiaSat II bird?
In reality, the Air Force was never able to place a bird in orbit that quickly.
gloss: Booing and jeering, especially as done by an audience expressing displeasure at a performer.
pos: noun
tags: UK
with-definite-article
examples: to give the bird
gloss: The vulgar hand gesture in which the middle finger is extended.
pos: noun
tags: with-definite-article
examples: to flip the bird
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.
Then she raised both hands above her shoulders and flipped him the bird with each one.
gloss: A yardbird.
pos: noun
gloss: A kilogram of cocaine.
pos: noun
tags: US
slang
examples: Never dirt on my knees
I'm just serving these fiends
Sell birds to the bees
I sell birds to the trees
gloss: A penis.
pos: noun
tags: Canada
Philippines
slang
examples: BUBBLES: One time I was making a model and I glued the wing to a B17 bomber to my bird by accident.
gloss: Snowbird (retiree who moves to a warmer climate).
pos: noun
tags: informal
gloss: To observe or identify wild birds in their natural environment.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: To catch or shoot birds; to hunt birds.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: To seek for game or plunder; to thieve.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
intransitive
examples: MAMMON: These day-owls.
SURLY: That are birding in men's purses
gloss: To transmit via satellite.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Unless the TV crew has its own flyaway, the locals can still defeat a story they couldn't prevent reporters from covering by cutting it off at the pass, when it is being birded through their facilities.
After being sent by fast car to Tel Aviv the cassettes would be 'birded' by satellite to the USA and London.
gloss: Able to be passed with very little work; having the nature of a bird course.
pos: adj
tags: Canada
colloquial
examples: SOC100 isn’t bird at all lol. But ANT101 is super easy & the prof (Dr. Sherry Fukuzawa) is amazing.
but admittedly, all the hours spent creating excel sheets optimizing my course plan, all the research finding the absolutely best professors, all the smart friends i made, all the alumni i contacted to collect crowdmarks of past exams, all the research i did finding the birdiest courses of all...... all of it was wayyyyyy more fun to me than just sitting down and studying like a normal kid. it was kind of just like playing a video game.
Synonyms: avian
bird
birdie
feathered friend
fowl
Related words: birb
burd
chirp
ornithic
ornithology
squawk
tweet
:Category:Birds
Derived words: a bird in the hand
a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
adjutant bird
a little bird told me
American bird grasshopper
antbird
antibird
apostlebird
Baltimore bird
banana bird
band birds
barley-bird
beach birds
beambird
bellbird
bill bird
bill-bird
birdaholic
bird aircraft strike hazard
bird-alane
bird app
birdback
bird ball
birdbander
birdbath
bird bath
birdbeak dogfish
bird bird
birdbolt
birdbox
birdbrain
bird brain
birdbrained
bird-brained
bird breeder's lung
bird burst
birdcage
bird-cage
birdcage clock
birdcall
bird-call
bird call
birdcaller
birdcall imitation
bird-call imitation
bird call imitation
birdcall imitator
bird-call imitator
bird call imitator
birdcalling
birdcam
birdcare
birdcatcher
bird-catcher
bird catcher
bird-catcher tree
birdcatching
bird-catching
bird catching
bird-catching net
bird cherry
bird-cherry ermine
bird chorus
bird cliff
bird colonel
bird colony
bird course
birdcrap
bird dealer
bird-dealer
bird-do
bird dog
bird-dog
bird-dogged
bird-dogging
birddom
bird droppings
bird dropping spider
birdeater
birdeen
birder
birdeye
bird eye
bird-eyed
bird fancier's lung
bird farm
birdfeed
bird feeder
birdfeeder
birdfest
bird flu
birdfood
bird food
bird-foot
bird-footed dinosaur
birdfucker
bird grasshopper
bird-hatching
bird-headed
bird hide
bird-hipped
bird-hipped dinosaur
birdhood
birdhouse
bird-house
bird house
birdicide
birdie
birdied
birdieing
birdikin
bird-in-a-bush
bird in a nest
birdiness
bird influenza
birding
bird ingestion
bird in the bosom
bird in the hand
bird in hand
birdish
birdkeeper
birdkeeping
birdkind
birdless
birdlet
birdlife
birdlike
bird-like
birdlime
birdlimed
birdliming
birdlimer
birdling
birdlore
bird louse
birdlover
bird-lover
bird lover
birdloving
bird-loving
bird loving
birdly
birdman
birdmom
birdnap
birdnapper
birdness
bird-nest
birdnest
birdnesting
bird-nesting
birdo
bird of freedom
bird of ill omen
bird of Jove
bird of Juno
bird of one's own brain
bird of paradise
bird-of-paradise
bird-of-paradise flower
bird of passage
bird of peace
bird of prey
bird of wonder
bird pepper
bird point
birdproof
bird-rich
birds and bees
birdseed
birdseller
bird-seller
bird's eye
bird's-eye map
bird's-eye maple
bird's eye maple
bird's-eye primrose
bird's-eye speedwell
bird's-eye view
birdsfoot
bird's-foot
bird's-foot trefoil
bird's-foot violet
bird shit
birdshit
birdshop
birdshot
bird shot
birdsit
birdsite
birdsitter
birdskin
birdsmouth
birdsnest
bird's nest
bird's-nest orchid
bird's-nest soup
bird's nest soup
birds of a feather
birds of a feather flock together
birds of paradise
birds-of-paradise
birdsome
birdsong
bird song
bird spider
birdspotter
birdspotting
bird's tooth
birdstore
bird store
birdstrike
bird strike
bird stuffer
Birds' Wedding
birdsweet
bird table
birdtrap
bird-walk
birdwalk
bird walk
birdwatcher
bird watcher
birdwatching
bird watching
birdweed
birdwing
bird-winged butterfly
birdwise
bird-witted
birdwoman
birdy
birdyback
birdysit
bishop bird
blackbird
bloodbird
bluebird
boatswain-bird
Boatswain Bird Island
bovver bird
bower bird
brain-fever bird
bristlebird
broken bird
bumblebird
bunyip bird
bushbird
butcherbird
butcher bird
butterbird
cagebird
cage bird
call bird
canary bird
capuchinbird
catbird
cat bird
cat-bird
cedar bird
cedarbird
ceiling bird
chaparral bird
charm a bird off a branch
chipping bird
cicadabird
clever bird
cockbird
cock bird
cock-bird
cockyolly bird
cockyoly bird
cornbird
cowbird
crocodile bird
crying bird
dead bird
devil bird
diamond bird
dickeybird
dickybird
dicky bird
dicky-bird
dipping bird
dirtbird
do bird
doctor bird
dodo bird
dollarbird
dolly bird
dolly-bird
doughbird
dragoon bird
drinking bird
drinky bird
dunbird
dunking bird
early bird
early bird catches the worm
early bird special
eat like a bird
egg-bird
elephant bird
European bird cherry
feathered oof-bird
fernbird
figbird
fine feathers make fine birds
firebird
flip the bird
flute-bird
fly like a bird
for the birds
free as a bird
friarbird
friar bird
frigatebird
frigate bird
frostbird
full bird
full bird colonel
funny bird
gallows-bird
gallows bird
gamebird farmer
game-bird farmer
gamebird
game bird
gaol-bird
gaolbird
gay old bird
get the bird
ghetto bird
gibberbird
give somebody the bird
give someone the bird
give the bird
glacier bird
go-away-bird
go-away bird
Goliath birdeater
goofus bird
gooney bird
gospel bird
go the way of the dodo bird
grass-bird
grassbird
green bird
gunbird
hairbird
hangbird
have a bird
haybird
hen bird
hermit-bird
homebird
honeybird
humbird
hummingbird
humming-bird
humming bird
icebird
important bird area
indigo bird
indigobird
invisible bird
iron bird
it's an ill bird that fouls its own nest
jail-bird
jail bird
jailbird
jaybird
Jesus bird
Jungle Bird
kill two birds with one stone
kingbird
ku ku bird
lady-bird
ladybird
leafbird
lettuce-bird
life bird
lightning bird
like a bird
little bird
liver bird
Lord God bird
love bird
lovebird
lyrebird
mackerel bird
magnificent bird of paradise
magnificent frigate bird
mallee bird
man-bird
mango bird
mango-bird
man-of-war bird
marshbird
maya bird
migratory bird
mino bird
mistletoebird
mocking bird
mockingbird
moonbird
moorbird
moosebird
morningbird
mother-bird
moundbird
mound bird
mousebird
multibird
murderbird
mutton bird
naked as a jay bird
naked as a jay-bird
nestle-bird
night bird
nonbird
nunbird
odd bird
oilbird
old bird
oof-bird
oozlum bird
organbird
ovenbird
oxbird
paddy bird
parson bird
Peabody bird
perching bird
pie bird
pilotbird
plumebird
poë-bird
poë bird
poebird
preacher bird
protobird
puffbird
qua-bird
queer bird
railbird
rainbird
rare bird
redbird
red-bird
reedbird
regent-bird
rhinoceros bird
ricebird
riflebird
ringbird
salad bird
sandbird
sankofa bird
scape-bird
scrub bird
scrubbird
seabird
sea bird
seal-bird
secretary bird
seed-bird
shadbird
shitbird
shit bird
shoot a bird
shorebird
shore bird
silverbird
sing like a bird
sippy bird
skinbyrd
skipper-bird
skunkbird
snakebird
snow bird
snow-bird
snowbird
songbird
spark bird
spinifexbird
spokesbird
stiltbird
stinkbird
stonebird
storm-bird
strange bird
Stymphalian bird
sugarbird
sultana bird
sunbird
surfbird
table bird
tailorbird
T-bird
teacher bird
terror bird
the bird has flown
the bird is flown
the birds and the bees
the early bird catches the worm
the early bird gets the worm
thicketbird
thistle bird
thornbird
thunderbird
tickbird
tinkerbird
toddy bird
tropicbird
umber bird
umbrellabird
umbrella bird
unicorn bird
wading bird
wallbird
warbird
waterbirding
waterbird
water bird
wattlebird
waxbird
weaverbird
werebird
wetbird
whalebird
wheatbird
wheelbird
whipbird
whirlybird
whore's-bird
widow bird
wirebird
woodbird
yard bird
yawker bird
year-bird
yellow-bird
yellowbird
Translations:
lang: Chichonyi-Chidzihana-Chikauma
word: mutu
lang: French
word: oiseau
lang: German
word: Vogel
lang: German
word: Typ
lang: Greek
word: τύπος
roman: týpos
lang: Italian
word: tipo
lang: Iranian Persian
word: جیگَر
roman: jigar
lang: Slovene
word: tič
lang: Swahili
word: ndege