magpie
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: engineering
firearms
government
military
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
politics
tools
war
weaponry
Etymology: From Mag, a nickname for Margaret that was used to denote a chatterer, + archaic pie (“magpie”), from Middle English pie, pye, from Old French pie, from Latin pīca, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peyk- (“woodpecker, magpie”). Displaced native Old English agu (“magpie”) and Middle English aguster (“magpie”), whence English haggister.
Inflected forms:
form: magpies
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: magpies
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: magpieing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: magpied
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: magpied
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: One of several kinds of bird in the family Corvidae, especially Pica pica.
pos: noun
gloss: A superficially similar Australian bird, Gymnorhina tibicen, in the family Artamidae.
pos: noun
gloss: Someone who displays a magpie-like quality such as hoarding or stealing objects.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
examples: Not only is Mr. Booker a voracious magpie (who does not always acknowledge the sources of his ideas), but he also turns out to be an annoyingly biased and didactic one.
gloss: A fan or member of Newcastle United F.C.
pos: noun
tags: slang
gloss: In the sport of fullbore target rifle, the third circle on a target, between the inner and outer.
pos: noun
tags: UK
gloss: A halfpenny.
pos: noun
tags: UK
obsolete
slang
gloss: A pattern resembling the pied plumage of a magpie.
pos: noun
tags: attributive
examples: Kitty and I were engaged. The next day I met those accursed “magpie” Jhampanies at the back of Jakko, and, moved by some passing sentiment of pity, stopped to tell Mrs. Wessington everything.
The worst part of my experience in this magpie livery was yet to come, for I was to appear in it the next day at church.
gloss: To mark with patches of black and white or light and dark.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The little rail-enclosed plots that lay between the pavements and the hotels were magpied with torn paper […]
[…] she stood at the window and saw the lake blue with spring and a few patches of snow that magpied the hills.
[…] they looked down upon Highmost Redmanhey, timber and plaster magpied by the moon, and a lamp in the window of the room where Susan lay.
[…] young Inspector Cruse arrived at the Dun Cow, entering through a door tricked out as Tudor and set into a façade magpied with white paint and nailed-on beams […]
gloss: To steal or hoard (items) as magpies are believed to do.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
examples: […] she liked to be able to have a picturesque fact or two with which to support herself when she too, to hold attention, wanted to issue moving statements as to revolutions, anarchies and strife in the offing. And she had noticed that when she magpied Tietjens’ conversations more serious men in responsible positions were apt to argue with her and to pay her more attention than before....
“I had to borrow those photographs Aunt Nettie was storing in her closet.”
“Isn’t that interesting?” May said. “I have to say, I never did understand why Mrs. Hatch asked me to magpie them out of the library.”
I have magpied from here and there, borrowing influences from Morocco, Greece, Italy and my notebooks to end up with a handful of easy little dishes that complement each other.
gloss: To talk idly; to talk about other people's private business.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: He knew how people were magpieing with their malicious chatter that she had committed the cardinal sin of believing love was permanent […]
Derived words: Australian magpie Cracticus tibicen
Gymnorhina tibicen
azure-winged magpie
bell-magpie
black-billed magpie
black magpie
blue magpie
Eurasian magpie
green magpie
holarctic magpie
Iberian magpie
Korean magpie
Magpie Festival
magpie goose
magpie inkcap
magpieish
magpie-jay
magpie-lark
magpielike
magpie moth
magpie-robin
magpie shrike
magpie tanager
Murray magpie
oriental magpie
sea-magpie
yellow-billed magpie
Translations: