bird
See also: Bird
Contents
EnglishEdit
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PronunciationEdit
- (Received Pronunciation) enPR: bû(r)d, IPA(key): /bɜːd/
- (General American) IPA(key): /bɝd/, [bɝd]
- (Indian English) IPA(key): /bɜd/
- Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)d
Etymology 1Edit
From Middle English bird, from Old English bird, brid, bridd (“young bird, chick”), of uncertain origin and relation.
NounEdit
bird (plural birds)
- A member of the class of animals Aves in the phylum Chordata, characterized by being warm-blooded, having feathers and wings usually capable of flight, and laying eggs.
- Ducks and sparrows are birds.
- 2004, Bruce Whittington, Loucas Raptis, Seasons with Birds, page 50:
- 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.
- (slang) A man, fellow. [from the mid-19th c.]
- 1886, Edmund Routledge, Routledge's every boy's annual
- 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'!
- 1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin 2011, page 24:
- 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.
- 2006, Jeff Fields, Terry Kay, A cry of angels
- "Ah, he's a funny bird," said Phaedra, throwing a leg over the sill.
- 1886, Edmund Routledge, Routledge's every boy's annual
- (Britain, US, slang) A girl or woman, especially one considered sexually attractive.
- Campbell
- And by my word! the bonny bird / In danger shall not tarry.
- 2013, Russell Brand, Russell Brand and the GQ awards: 'It's amazing how absurd it seems' (in The Guardian, 13 September 2013)[1]
- 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.
- Campbell
- (Britain, Ireland, slang) Girlfriend. [from the early 20th c.]
- Mike went out with his bird last night.
- (slang) An airplane.
- (slang) A satellite.
- 1988, Satellite communications. Jan-Oct. 1988
- 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
- 1992, Cable Vision
- Will a government- backed APSTAR satellite knock out a planned AsiaSat II bird?
- 2015, John Fuller, Thor's Legions: Weather Support to the U.S. Air Force and Army, 1937-1987, Springer →ISBN, page 384
- In reality, the Air Force was never able to place a bird in orbit that quickly.
- 1988, Satellite communications. Jan-Oct. 1988
- (obsolete) A chicken; the young of a fowl; a young eaglet; a nestling.
- Shakespeare
- That ungentle gull, the cuckoo's bird.
- Tyndale (Matt. viii. 20)
- The brydds [birds] of the aier have nestes.
- Shakespeare
SynonymsEdit
- (member of class Aves): fowl, avian
- (man): chap, bloke, guy
- (woman): broad, chick, dame, girl, lass
- See also Thesaurus:woman
- See also Thesaurus:girl
HyponymsEdit
- See also Thesaurus:bird
Derived termsEdit
Terms derived from bird
- a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
- adult bird
- funny bird
- gay old bird
- Alberta's provincial bird
- little bird
- a little bird told me
- aquatic bird
- queer bird
- band birds
- beach birds
- bird aircraft strike hazard (BASH)
- big bird
- Big Bird
- bird bath
- birdbeak dogfish (Deania calcea)
- birdbrain, bird brain
- birdbrained, bird-brained
- birdbrained person
- birdcage
- birdcage clock
- birdcall, bird-call, bird call
- birdcall imitation, bird-call imitation, bird call imitation
- birdcall imitator, bird-call imitator, bird call imitator
- birdcatcher, bird-catcher, bird catcher
- birdcatching, bird-catching, bird catching
- bird-catching net
- bird colony
- bird dealer, bird-dealer
- bird-do
- bird dog
- bird-dog
- bird-dogged
- bird-dogging
- bird-dogs
- birder
- bird eye
- bird feeder, birdfeeder
- bird flu
- birdfood, bird food
- bird-foot
- bird-footed dinosaur
- bird hatch
- bird hatching
- bird-hipped
- bird-hipped dinosaur
- birdhouse, bird-house, bird house
- birdie
- birdied
- birdieing
- bird influenza
- bird in the hand, bird in hand
- birding
- birdlet
- bird life
- birdlike, bird-like
- birdlime
- birdlimed
- birdlimer
- birdlimes
- birdliming
- bird louse
- birdlover, bird-lover, bird lover
- birdloving, bird-loving, bird loving
- birdly
- birdman
- bird of freedom
- bird of ill omen
- bird of Jove
- bird of Juno
- bird of paradise
- bird-of-paradise
- Bird of Paradise
- bird-of-paradise flower
- bird of passage
- bird of peace
- bird of prey
- bird pepper
- birdseed
- birdseller, bird-seller
- bird's eye
- bird's-eye map
- bird's-eye maple, bird's eye maple (Acer saccharum)
- bird's-eye maple wood veneer
- bird's-eye primrose
- bird's-eye speedwell
- bird's-eye view
- bird's-foot
- bird's-foot trefoil
- bird's-foot violet
- bird shit
- birdshot, bird shot
- bird's mouth
- bird's-nest orchid
- bird's-nest soup, bird's nest soup
- birds of a feather, birds of a feather flock together
- birdsong
- birds of paradise, birds-of-paradise
- bird spider
- bird's tooth
- birdstore, bird store
- birdstrike, bird strike
- Birds’ Wedding
- bird table
- birdwatcher, bird-watcher, bird watcher
- birdwatching, bird-watching, bird watching
- birdwoman
- birdy
- clever bird
- cock bird, cock-bird
- dickeybird, dickybird
- do bird
- early bird
- eat like a bird
- European bird cherry
- fine feathers make fine birds
- frigate bird
- for the birds
- gamebird, game-bird, game bird
- gamebird farmer, game-bird farmer
- get the bird
- give somebody the bird, give someone the bird
- hen bird
- hummingbird, humming-bird, humming bird
- kill two birds with one stone
- like a bird
- little bird
- migratory bird
- odd bird
- old bird
- rare bird
- seabird
- shorebird, shore bird
- strange bird
- the bird has flown, the bird is flown
- the birds and the bees
- the early bird catches the worm
- waterbird, water bird
TranslationsEdit
animal
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person
woman
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girlfriend
See alsoEdit
VerbEdit
bird (third-person singular simple present birds, present participle birding, simple past and past participle birded)
- To observe or identify wild birds in their natural environment
- To catch or shoot birds.
- (figuratively) To seek for game or plunder; to thieve.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Ben Jonson to this entry?)
Etymology 2Edit
Originally Cockney rhyming slang, shortened from bird-lime for "time"
NounEdit
bird (uncountable)
- A prison sentence.
- He’s doing bird.
SynonymsEdit
TranslationsEdit
time in prison
Etymology 3Edit
Dated in the mid‐18th Century; derived from the expression “to give the big bird”, as in “to hiss someone like a goose”.
NounEdit
the bird (uncountable)
- The vulgar hand gesture in which the middle finger is extended.
- 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.
- 2003, James Patterson and Peter De Jonge, The Beach House, Warner Books, page 305,
- Then she raised both hands above her shoulders and flipped him the bird with each one.
- 2002, The Advocate, "Flying fickle finger of faith", page 55.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
vulgar hand gesture
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Etymology 4Edit
A calque from various Asian languages that use "bird" as a slang term for "penis", including Malay burung, Chinese 鳥, and Tagalog ibon.
NounEdit
bird (plural birds)
- (Asian slang) A penis.
TranslationsEdit
penis
ReferencesEdit
- “bird” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2018.
bird on Wikipedia.Wikipedia 
Aves on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons 
Aves on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
