miner's canary
See also: miners' canary
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Noun edit
miner's canary (plural miners' canaries or miner's canaries)
- A bird caged in mines because its death provided a warning of dangerous levels of toxic gases.
- (idiomatic) Anything, especially an organism, whose death or distress provides an early warning of danger.
Derived terms edit
See also edit
Further reading edit
- miner's canary on Wikipedia.Wikipedia