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bird

Noun	1.	bird - warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings craniate, vertebrate - animals having a bony or cartilaginous skeleton with a segmented spinal column and a large brain enclosed in a skull or cranium Aves, class Aves - (ornithology) the class of birds dickeybird, dickey-bird, dickybird, dicky-bird - small bird; adults talking to children sometimes use these words to refer to small birds hen - adult female bird nester - a bird that has built (or is building) a nest night bird - any bird associated with night: owl; nightingale; nighthawk; etc bird of passage - any bird that migrates seasonally protoavis - most primitive avian type known; extinct bird of the Triassic having bird-like jaw and hollow limbs and breastbone with dinosaur-like tail and hind limbs archaeopteryx, Archaeopteryx lithographica, archeopteryx - extinct primitive toothed bird of the Jurassic period having a long feathered tail and hollow bones; usually considered the most primitive of all birds Sinornis - sparrow-sized fossil bird of the Jurassic period to the Cretaceous period having a keeled breastbone and vestigial tail; found in China; considered possibly the second most primitive of all birds Ibero-mesornis - sparrow-sized fossil bird of the Cretaceous period having a vestigial tail; found in Spain; considered possibly the third most primitive of all birds archaeornis - extinct primitive toothed bird with a long feathered tail and three free clawed digits on each wing flightless bird, ratite, ratite bird - flightless birds having flat breastbones lacking a keel for attachment of flight muscles: ostriches; cassowaries; emus; moas; rheas; kiwis; elephant birds carinate, carinate bird, flying bird - birds having keeled breastbones for attachment of flight muscles passeriform bird, passerine - perching birds mostly small and living near the ground with feet having 4 toes arranged to allow for gripping the perch; most are songbirds; hatchlings are helpless nonpasserine bird - chiefly arboreal birds especially of the order Coraciiformes bird of prey, raptor, raptorial bird - any of numerous carnivorous birds that hunt and kill other animals beak, neb, nib, pecker, bill - horny projecting mouth of a bird gallinacean, gallinaceous bird - heavy-bodied largely ground-feeding domestic or game birds parrot - usually brightly colored zygodactyl tropical birds with short hooked beaks and the ability to mimic sounds cuculiform bird - birds having zygodactyl feet (except for the touracos) coraciiform bird - chiefly short-legged arboreal nonpasserine birds that nest in holes apodiform bird - nonpasserine bird having long wings and weak feet; spends much of its time in flight caprimulgiform bird - long-winged nonpasserine birds piciform bird - any of numerous nonpasserine insectivorous climbing birds usually having strong bills for boring wood trogon - forest bird of warm regions of the New World having brilliant lustrous plumage and long tails aquatic bird - wading and swimming and diving birds of either fresh or salt water furcula - a forked bone formed by the fusion of the clavicles of most birds feather, plumage, plume - the light horny waterproof structure forming the external covering of birds wing - a movable organ for flying (one of a pair) pennon, pinion - wing of a bird bird's foot - the foot of a bird uropygium - posterior part of a bird's body from which the tail feathers grow croupe, rump, croup, hindquarters - the part of an animal that corresponds to the human buttocks air sac - any of the membranous air-filled extensions of the lungs of birds preen gland, uropygial gland - oil-secreting gland situated at the base of the tail in most birds syrinx - the vocal organ of a bird twitterer - a bird that twitters bird, fowl - the flesh of a bird or fowl (wild or domestic) used as food flock - a group of birds chirpy - (birds or insects) characterized by or tending to chirp
	2.	bird - the flesh of a bird or fowl (wild or domestic) used as food fowl bird - warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings wishbone, wishing bone - the furcula of a domestic fowl poultry - flesh of chickens or turkeys or ducks or geese raised for food wildfowl - flesh of any of a number of wild game birds suitable for food drumstick - the lower joint of the leg of a fowl second joint, thigh - the upper joint of the leg of a fowl wing - the wing of a fowl; "he preferred the drumsticks to the wings" giblet, giblets - edible viscera of a fowl oyster - a small muscle on each side of the back of a fowl parson's nose, pope's nose - the tail of a dressed fowl meat - the flesh of animals (including fishes and birds and snails) used as food dark meat - the flesh of the legs of fowl used as food
	3.	bird - informal terms for a (young) woman dame, wench, chick, doll, skirt fille, girl, miss, missy, young lady, young woman - a young woman; "a young lady of 18"
	4.	bird - a cry or noise made to express displeasure or contempt boo, Bronx cheer, razz, razzing, snort, hiss, hoot, raspberry cry, outcry, shout, vociferation, yell, call - a loud utterance; often in protest or opposition; "the speaker was interrupted by loud cries from the rear of the audience"
	5.	bird - badminton equipment consisting of a ball of cork or rubber with a crown of feathers shuttle, shuttlecock, birdie badminton equipment - equipment for playing the game of badminton
Verb	1.	bird - watch and study birds in their natural habitat birdwatch observe - watch attentively; "Please observe the reaction of these two chemicals"

bird

see seabirds, types of fowl

Quotations
"No ladder needs the bird but skies"
"To situate its wings,"
"Nor any leader's grim baton"
"Arraigns it as it sings" [Emily Dickinson]
"Who wills devoutly to absorb, contain,"
"birds give him pain" [Richard Wilbur The Beautiful Changes]
"I know what the caged bird feels, alas!" [Paul Lawrence Dunbar Sympathy]

Proverbs
"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush"
"Birds of a feather flock together"

Birds

accentor, amazon, ani, avadavat or amadavat, avocet, babbler, Baltimore oriole, barbet, beccafico, bee-eater, bellbird, bird of paradise, bishopbird, bittern, blackbird, blackcap, blackcock, black grouse, blackpoll, bluebird, blue grouse, blue jay, bluethroat, bluetit, boatbill or boat-billed heron, bobolink, bobwhite, bokmakierie, bowerbird, brain-fever bird, brambling, broadbill, brolga, Australian crane, or (Austral.) native companion, budgerigar, bulbul, bullfinch, bunting, bush shrike, bushtit, bush wren, bustard, button quail, cacique, canary, Cape pigeon, capercaillie or capercailzie, Cape sparrow, capuchin, cardinal or cardinal grosbeak, carrion crow, cassowary, catbird, chaffinch, chat, chickadee, chicken or (Austral. inf.) chook, chiffchaff, chimney swallow or chimney swift, chipping sparrow, chough, chuck-will's-widow, chukar, cliff swallow, coal tit or coletit, cockatiel or cockateel, cockatoo, cock-of-the-rock, collared dove, coly or mousebird, conure, coppersmith, coquette, corella, corn bunting, corncrake, cotinga or chatterer, coucal, cowbird, crake, crane, crested tit, crocodile bird, crombec, crossbill, crow or (Scot.) corbie, cuckoo, cumulet, curassow, curlew, currawong or bell magpie, darter, anhinga, or snakebird, demoiselle (crane) or Numidian crane, diamond bird or pardalote, dipper or water ouzel, diver, dollarbird, dotterel or dottrel, dove or (archaic or poetic) culver, dowitcher, drongo, dunlin or red-backed sandpiper, egret, emperor penguin, emu, emu-wren, fantail, fernbird, fieldfare, fig-bird, finch, finfoot, firebird, firecrest, flamingo, flower-pecker, flycatcher, francolin, friarbird, frogmouth, galah, gang-gang, gnatcatcher, go-away bird, godwit, goldcrest, golden oriole, goldfinch, grackle or crow blackbird, grassfinch, grassquit, great crested grebe, great northern diver, great tit, grebe, greenfinch, green leek, greenlet, greenshank, green woodpecker, grey warbler or riroriro (N.Z.), grosbeak, grouse, guan, guinea fowl, hadedah, hawfinch, hazelhen, hedge sparrow or dunnock, helldiver, pie-billed grebe, or dabchick, hen harrier or (U.S. & Canad.) marsh harrier, heron, hill myna, hoatzin or hoactzin, homing pigeon, honey creeper, honey-eater, honey guide, honeysucker, hooded crow, hoopoe, hornbill, house martin, house sparrow, hummingbird or trochilus, ibis, jabiru, jacamar, jaçana or lily-trotter, jackdaw, jacksnipe, Jacobin, jaeger (U.S. & Canad.), Java sparrow, jay, junco, jungle fowl, kagu, kaka, kakapo, kea, killdeer, kingbird, kingfisher, king penguin, kiwi or apteryx, knot, koel, kokako, kookaburra or laughing jackass, kotuku, Lahore, lapwing or green plover, lark, limpkin or courlan, linnet, locust bird, loggerhead shrike, longspur, long-tailed tit, lorikeet, lory, lourie, lovebird, lyrebird, macaw, magpie, magpie lark, Major Mitchell, marabou, marsh tit, martin, meadowlark, meadow pipit, minivet, mistle thrush or missel thrush, mockingbird, monal or monaul, motmot or sawbill, mourning dove, myna, mynah, or mina, nighthawk, bullbat, or mosquito hawk, night heron, nightingale, nightjar or (U.S. & Canad.) goatsucker, noddy, noisy miner, nun, nutcracker, nuthatch, oil bird or guacharo, oriole, ortolan or ortolan bunting, ostrich, ouzel or ousel, ovenbird, oxpecker or tick-bird, parakeet or parrakeet, parrot, partridge, peacock, peafowl, peewit, pelican, penguin, phalarope, pheasant, pied wagtail, pigeon, pipit, plover, pratincole, ptarmigan, puffbird, puffin, pukeko, purple gallinule, pyrrhuloxia, quail, quarrian or quarrion, quetzal, racket-tail, rail, rainbow bird, raven, red-backed shrike, redbreast, red grouse, red-legged partridge, redpoll, redshank, redstart, redwing, reedbird, reed bunting, reedling or bearded tit, reed warbler, regent-bird, rhea or American ostrich, ricebird, riflebird, rifleman, ringed plover, ring-necked pheasant, ring ouzel, roadrunner or chaparral cock, robin or robin redbreast, rock dove or rock pigeon, rockhopper, roller, rook, rosella, rosy finch, ruff, ruffed grouse, runt, saddleback, saddlebill or jabiru, sage grouse, sanderling, sandgrouse, sand martin, sandpiper, sapsucker, Scandaroon, scarlet tanager, scrub bird, sedge warbler, seriema, serin, sheathbill, shoebill, shore bird or (Brit.) wader, shrike or butcherbird, sicklebill, siskin or (formerly) aberdevine, sitella or tree-runner, skimmer, skylark, snipe, snow bunting, snowy egret, solitaire, song sparrow, song thrush or mavis, sora, sparrow, spoonbill, spotted crake, spotted flycatcher, spotted sandpiper or (U.S.) peetweet, squacco, starling, stilt, stint, stock dove, stonechat, stone curlew or thick-knee, stork, sugar bird, sunbird, sun bittern, surfbird, swallow, swift, swiftlet, swordbill, tailorbird, takahe, tanager, tattler, tawny pippit, tern, thornbill, thrasher, thrush or (poetic) throstle, tit, titmouse, tody, toucan, touraco, turaco, or plantain-eater, towhee, tragopan, tree creeper, tree sparrow, trochilus, trogon, tropicbird, troupial, trumpeter, tui, turtledove, twite, umbrella bird, veery, verdin, wader or wading bird, wagtail, wall creeper, warbler, water rail, water thrush, wattlebird, waxbill, waxwing, weaverbird or weaver, weka, Maori hen, or wood hen, wheatear, whimbrel, whinchat, whip bird, whippoorwill, white-eye or (N.Z.) blighty, silvereye, or waxeye, whitethroat, whooping crane, willet, willow grouse, willow tit, willow warbler, wonga-wonga, woodchat or woodchat shrike, woodcock, wood ibis, woodlark, woodpecker, wood pigeon, ringdove, cushat, (Scot.) cushie-doo, or (English dialect) quist, woodswallow, wood warbler, wren, wrybill, wryneck, yellowhammer, zebra finch

Extinct birds archaeopteryx, archaeornis, dodo, great auk, huia, ichthyornis, moa, notornis, passenger pigeon, solitaire

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

bird

noun

Slang. Any of various derisive sounds of disapproval: