▪ I. bird, n.
(bɜːd)
Forms: 1–5 brid, 1 north. bird, 3–5 bridd, 3–6 bryd, 4–5 bridde, bred(e, 4 berd, 4–6 byrd(e, 5 brydde, 5–7 birde, 5– dial. brid, 5– bird. Pl. birds: formerly briddas, -es, -is, -ys, -us; birdas, -es.
[ME. byrd, bryd:—OE. brid masc. (pl. briddas), in Northumbrian bird, birdas ‘offspring, young,’ but used only of the young of birds. There is no corresponding form in any other Teutonic lang., and the etymology is unknown. If native Teut., it would represent an original *bridjo-z: this cannot be derived from brood, breed, and even the suggestion that it may be formed like these from the root *bru- (see brood) appears to be quite inadmissible.]
† I. 1. a. orig. The general name for the young of the feathered tribes; a young bird; a chicken, eaglet, etc.; a nestling. The only sense in OE.; found in literature down to 1600; still retained in north. dial. as ‘a hen and her birds.’
| a 800 Corpus Gl. (O.E. Texts) 1687 Pullus, brid. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke ii. 24 Twa turtlan oððe tweᵹen culfran briddas [Lindisf. & Rushw. birdas, Hatton briddes]. a 1100 in Wr.-Wülcker Voc. 318 Pullus, cicen oððe brid. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 49 Duue fedeð briddes. a 1300 E.E. Psalter lxxxiii[iv]. 4 And þe turtil [findes]..a neste Þar he mai with his briddes [Wyclif, briddis, bryddis] reste. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 348 Some..bredden, and brouȝten forth her bryddes so · al aboue þe grounde. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 13 He..cheryssheth vs, as the egle her byrdes. 1592 Warner Alb. Eng. viii. cxli. (1597) 200 The Pellicane theare neasts his Bird. 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, ii. i. 91 That Princely Eagles Bird. 1822 Galt Entail lxv, The craw thinks its ain bird the whitest. |
† b. The young of other animals.
Obs.| 1388 Wyclif Matt. xxiii. 33 Ȝe eddris, and eddris briddis. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xii. v. (1495) 415 In temperat yeres ben fewe byrdes of been [= bees]. Ibid. xiii. xxvi. (1495) 458 All fysshe..fede and kepe theyr byrdes. c 1440 Gesta Rom. i. vii. 16 A serpent—made his nest..and broȝt forthe his briddis there. 1591 Bruce 11 Serm. Y viij a (Jam.) They wald ever be handled as Tods birds. 1597 Act 7 Jas. I, 1427 (title) The Woolfe and Woolfe-birdes suld be slaine. |
† c. transf. A young man, youngster, child, son.
Obs. (In later times only
fig.:
cf. chick, chicken.)
| a 1300 Cursor M. 22381 [Anticrist] þat ilk warlau bridd [Fairf. warlagh brid, Trin. þulke fendes brid]. Ibid. 9811 Qua-sum on suilk a bird [Jesus] wald thinc [Gött. brid]. c 1330 Amis & Amil. 15 The berdes bold of chere. 1559 Homilies i. Good Wks. ii. (1859) 54 To follow his own phantasie, and (as you woulde saye) to fauoure his owne byrde. 1566 Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. 1846 I. 125 His bastard byrdis bear some witness. 1571 Scot. Poems 16th C. (1801) II. 280 Thea dispard birds of Beliall. |
d. A maiden, a girl. [In this sense
bird was confused with
burde,
burd, originally a distinct word, perhaps also with
bryd(e bride; but later writers understand it as
fig. sense of 1 or 2.] In
mod. (revived) use: a girl, woman (often used familiarly or disparagingly) (
slang).
| a 1300 Cursor M. 7131 [Delilah] þat birde [v.r. bride, bryde, bruyd] was biddande bald. Ibid. 10077 [Mary] þat blisful bird [v.r. berde, byrd, buyrde] of grace. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 768 Maskellez bryd þat bryȝt con flambe. c 1400 Ywaine & Gaw. 3313 That he ne might wed that bird bright. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) iii. 356 Ȝe bewtews byrd [Luxuria], I must yow kysse. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. iv. ii. 197 The Bird is dead That we haue made so much on. 1804 Campbell Ld. Ullin's Dau. vi, And by my word! the bonny bird In danger shall not tarry. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xli, ‘Peggy, my bonny bird,’..addressing a little girl of twelve years old. 1915 P. MacGill Amat. Army v. 62 There's another bird there—and cawfee! 1927 Collinson Contemp. Eng. 96 Bird (used like Ger. Biene especially for a more flirtatious or less reputable type of girl). 1935 ‘G. Orwell’ Clerg. Daughter ii. 161 He kept a sharp eye open for the ‘birds’. 1958 Observer 14 Dec. 7/6 The birds..get 'emselves into trouble, let 'em get 'emselves out. 1960 News Chron. 16 Feb. 6 Hundreds more geezers were taking their birds to ‘The Hostage’ and ‘Make me an Offer’. 1961 New Statesman 26 May 830/2 Victor is an ex-seaman in his twenties, who deserted in South Africa and got in law trouble out there for shacking up with a coloured bird. |
e. jocularly. A man, a ‘cove’;
esp. in
old bird (see
old a. 5 b).
Cf. quots. 1799 and 1875 under senses 4 a and b below.
Often in the punning collocation
downy bird: see
downy a.
2 5.
| 1852 Bristed Upper Ten Th. vi. 128 The same reason..kept Mr. Simpson, and other ‘birds’ of his set, out of the exclusive society. 1853 ‘C. Bede’ Verdant Green vi, I suppose the old bird was your governor. 1873 [see downy a.2 5]. 1877, 1890 [see old a. 5 b]. a 1885 ‘H. Conway’ Living or Dead (1886) vii, After all, Philip,..your father must be a queer bird—excuse slang, mother. 1899 Kipling Stalky 131 The Head's a downy bird. 1928 [see coffin-nail s.v. coffin n. 13]. 1930 E. Pound XXX Cantos xi. 49 And that gay bird Piero della Bella. 1939 J. B. Priestley Let People Sing 358 He's one of them queer birds that aren't human until they're properly pickled. |
2. Any feathered vertebrate animal: a member of the second class (
Aves) of the great Vertebrate group, the species of which are most nearly allied to the Reptiles, but distinguished by their warm blood, feathers, and adaptation of the fore limbs as wings, with which most species fly in the air.
Now used generically in place of the older name
fowl, which has become specialized for certain kinds of poultry, and by sportsmen for wild ducks and wild geese. In this sense,
bird,
ME. brid, is found in the south
c 1300; it appears to have been extended from the young of birds (sense 1) at first to the smaller kinds, Chaucer's ‘smale foules.’ So late as a century ago, Dr. Johnson says (1755–73) ‘In common talk
fowl is used for the larger, and
bird for the smaller kind of feathered animals’; and this distinction still obtains to some extent dialectally. (In Scotland
large birds e.g. hawks, herons, are ‘fowls,’
small birds, as well as chickens, are ‘birds.’) A further process of specialization (
cf. the histories of
fowl,
deer,
beast), seems still to be in progress in regard to
bird, as witness its technical use by game-preservers (sense 3).
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 102 Eni totilde ancre..þet bekeð euer utward ase untowe brid ine cage. Ibid. 134 Þeos briddes habbeð nestes. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 1753 On morwe, whanne the brid began to synge. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xxviii. (1495) 138 Amonge birdes the popyniaye and the pellycan vse the fote in stede of an honde. c 1432–50 tr. Higden (1865) I. 99 A brydde callede fenix. 1475 Bk. Noblesse 59 By augures and divinacions of briddis. 1526 Tindale Matt. viii. 20 The bryddes of the aier have nestes. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, iv. i. 89 The Rod, and Bird of Peace, and all such Emblemes. 1631 T. Powell Tom All Trades 166 As free as bird in ayre. 1770 M. Bruce Cuckoo v Sweet bird! thy bower is ever green. 1798 Coleridge Anc. Mar. v, He loved the bird that loved the man Who shot him with his bow. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. cxiv, The happy birds that change their sky To build and brood. |
3. Sport. A game bird; with game-preservers
spec. a partridge.
fig. Prey, object of attack.
| 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. v. ii. 46 Am I your Bird, I meane to shift my bush. 1609 Dekker Lanth. & Candle-Lt. Wks. 1884–5 III. 243 The Bird that is preid vpon, is Money. 1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle, The lieutenant..was my bird, and I had disabled him by a sabre-cut. 1877 Daily News 1 Oct. 5/1 It is impossible to avoid admiring the bird—for although the partridge has usurped the designation, after all the pheasant is a bird—which can inspire such master⁓pieces of felonious skill. Mod. Reports from the northern moors say the birds are very wild. |
4. a. In various
fig. applications, chiefly from sense 2; as in reference to the winged or noiseless flight, or soaring of birds; to their confinement in cages (
cf. gaol-bird); to their song; to the Latin
rara avis rare fowl, rarity.
Arabian bird = phœnix. Also, referring to a (pretended) private or secret source of information;
esp. in
phr. a little bird.
| 1546 J. Heywood Dial. cont. Prouerbes folio Hiii. recto, I dyd lately here..By one byrd, that in myne eare was late chauntyng. 1588 Marprel. Epist. (Arb.) 30, I hope to see you in for a bird. 1593 Pass. Morrice 79 She song ere long like a bird of Bedlam. 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. v. 113 We beare our Ciuill Swords..As farre as France. I heare a Bird so sing. 1606 ― Ant. & Cl. iii. ii. 12 Oh Anthony, oh thou Arabian Bird! 1610 ― Temp. iv. i. 184 Prosp. This was well done (my bird). 1711 Swift Jrnl. to Stella 23 May (1948) I. 277 You quarrelled this morning..: I heard the little bird say so. c 1799 Miss Rose in Rose Diaries (1860) I. 212 There were strange birds getting about my father. 1833 Marryat P. Simple xxxix, A little bird has whispered a secret to me. 1853 C. Brontë Villette III. xxxi. 47 ‘Who told you I was called Carl David?’ ‘A little bird, monsieur.’ 1872 Geo. Eliot Middlem. III. vi. lix. 314, I know all about it. I have a confidential little bird. 1875 B. Taylor Faust I. xvi. 159 There must be such queer birds however. |
b. An exceptionally smart or accomplished person (
freq. ironical); a first-rate animal or thing.
U.S. slang.| 1839 Spirit of Times 21 Dec. 498/2 If you jist could see one man what the Gineral Government sent out with an office to these parts,—he is a bird! 1840 Ibid. 27 June 199 An Ivanhoe has been winner and a second. Kendall has made a good beginning, and Sufferer may yet prove a ‘bird’. 1852 Knickerbocker Oct. 320 Talking of fast men, that Williams is a bird. 1856 Ibid. Apr. 429 A sleigh, drawn by a ‘perfect bird’ of a three-mile bay mare. 1907 S. E. White Arizona Nights i. vii. 129 A little place..in the Colorado mountains. Fellows, she was a bird. 1911 H. Quick Yellowstone N. ix. 230 He's got a disguise that's a bird. |
c. A prison sentence; prison.
Cf. bird-lime 2.
| 1924 E. Wallace Room 13 ix. 90 He's just out of ‘bird’ —that's jail. 1931 Police Jrnl. Oct. 501 This, with Jack's previous convictions (bird), caused him to be sentenced..to five years' penal servitude..at Parkhurst. 1938 J. Curtis They drive by Night ii. 22 Hell of a long time the next bit of bird was going to be unless he got done for suspect. 1953 Listener 3 Sept. 366 Having done his bird, as imprisonment is called in the best circles. 1961 [see bird-lime 2]. |
d. An aeroplane. Also, a guided missile, rocket, or space-craft.
slang.| 1933 H. G. Wells Shape of Things to Come iii §11. 332 We had no gas masks on our bird, so I didn't take part in the landing party which seized the new 'planes. 1951 Time 21 May 34/1 The military phrase of the day is ‘guided missiles’... These ‘birds’ (so the missilemen call them) are the heirs presumptive of war. 1962 A. Shepard in Into Orbit 100, I really enjoy looking at a bird that is getting ready to go. |
e. An obscene gesture of contempt (see
quots.).
U.S. slang.| 1968–70 Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) III–IV. 10 Bird, an upward thrust with the index or middle finger.—New Mexico State. 1971 E. E. Landy Underground Dict. 33 Bird... Term for the middle finger when raised alone, which means Fuck you—eg. That guy gave me the bird. |
5. a. Phrases.
† a bird of one's own brain: a conception of one's own.
† the bird in the bosom: one's own secret or pledge, one's conscience.
birds of a (= one) feather: those of like character.
† John Grey's bird (see
quot.).
| 1550 Hall Chron. 2 Saiyng, when he was diyng: I haue saued the birde in my bosome: meaning that he had kept both his promise and othe. c 1575 Gascoigne Fruites Warre cxxxi, The Greene knight was amongst the rest Like John Greyes birde that ventured withe the best. 1580 in Hazlitt Prov. (1869) 263 Perceiving them to cluster togither like John Grayes bird, ut dicitur, who always loved company. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 523, I take it to be a bird of their owne braine. 1600 Holland Livy xxvi. xl. 615 As commonly birds of a feather will flye together. 1608 D. T[uvill] Ess. Pol. & Mor. 90 b, A prying eye, a listning eare, and a prating tongue are all birds of one wing. 1632 D. Lupton Lond. & Carbon. 57 The Tayler and Broker are Birds of a feather. 1757 W. Thompson R.N. Advoc. 13 note, Birds of a Feather flock together. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxxii, I trow thou be'st a bird of the same feather. 1820 ― Abbot viii, Thou hast kept well..the bird in thy bosom. |
b. Phr.
the big bird,
cf. goose n. 1 g;
esp. in
to get the (big) bird: of an actor, to be hissed by the audience; hence
gen. to be dismissed, get the sack. Similarly,
to give (a person) the bird,
to get the bird.
orig. Theatr. slang.| 1825 P. Egan Life of Actor p. xii, And the end of their folly marked by the attacks of the big birds (geese) driving them off the stage. 1846 J. R. Planché Aristophanes' Birds 6 So hear him patiently before you frown Nor let his first shot bring the ‘Big Bird’ down. 1865 Hotten Slang Dict. s.v., ‘To get the big-bird’, i.e. to be hissed, as actors occasionally are by the ‘gods’. 1884 in Ware Passing Eng. (1909) s.v., Professor Grant, Q.C., had both ‘the bird’ and ‘the needle’ at the Royal on Monday. 1886 Graphic 10 Apr. 399/2 To be ‘goosed’, or, as it is sometimes phrased, to ‘get the big bird’, is occasionally a compliment to the actor's power of representing villainy. 1895 People 13 Jan. 7/2 Three or four of the most prominent artistes..have been..threatened with..‘the bird’—that is, hissing. 1924 Galsworthy White Monkey 56 Mr. Danby had ‘given him the bird’. Ibid. 255 When you were ill, I stole for you. I got the bird for it. 1927 Daily Express 4 Feb. 6/4 Britons in Hollywood will get what is locally known as the ‘razzberry’, which may be translated as ‘the bird’. 1928 Wodehouse Money for Nothing vii. 137 Would a Rudge audience have given me the bird a few years ago? 1957 P. Kemp Mine were of Trouble iii. 35 She gave him the bird—finally and for good. So he came to Spain to forget his broken heart. |
c. like a bird: with swift and easy motion onwards; easily; without resistance, difficulty, or hesitation.
| 1825 J. Neal Bro. Jonathan I. xiii. 421 Away she went, like a bird. 1873 W. S. Gilbert More Bab Ballads 118 ‘Miss Emily, I love you—Will you marry? Say the word!’ And Emily said ‘Certainly, Alphonso, like a bird!’ 1879 Cassell's Fam. Mag. Mar. 197/2 Over he went like a bird, and, with his fair burthen yet in the saddle. 1914 G. B. Shaw Fanny's First Play Induction, I told him Trotter would feel lonely without him; so he promised like a bird. |
d. Phr.
(strictly) for the birds: trivial, worthless; appealing only to gullible people.
orig. and chiefly
U.S. colloq.| 1951 J. D. Salinger Catcher in Rye i. 6 ‘Since 1888 we have been moulding boys into splendid, clear-thinking young men.’ Strictly for the birds. 1953 Time 7 Sept. 2/1 Kinsey's book is strictly for the birds. 1955 J. Potts Death of Stray Cat vii. 79 He's the jerk that brought you home tonight, isn't he? Strictly for the birds. 1957 Amer. Speech XXXII. 240 In 1942, when I entered the U.S. Army..the disparaging term that's for the birds was in common use among officers and enlisted men... The metaphor alludes to birds eating droppings from horses and cattle. 1958 Osborne & Creighton Epit. G. Dillon ii. 49 ‘You aren't very impressed with Geoffrey..?’ ‘Right. What the Americans call {oqq}strictly for the birds{cqq}.’ 1963 Listener 14 Feb. 301/2 Our answer, at that age, would have been that Stanley Matthews was for the birds. Football was just not mobile enough. |
6. In many proverbial expressions.
| c 1440 Generydes 4524 Some bete the bussh and some the byrdes take. 1523 Skelton Garl. Laurel 1452 Who may have a more ungracious lyfe Than a chyldis bird and a knavis wyfe? a 1529 ― Agst. Garnesche 197 That byrd ys nat honest That fylythe hys owne nest. c 1530 R. Hilles Com.-pl. Bk. (1858) 140 A byrde yn honde ys better than three yn the wode. c 1530 H. Rhodes Bk. Nurture 579 in Babees Bk. (1868) 98 A byrd in hand..is worth ten flye at large. c 1600 Timon iv. ii. (1842) 62 Tis well.—An olde birde is not caught with chaffe. 1652 Ashmole Theatr. Chem. lxii. 225 A Chyldys Byrde, and a Chorlys Wyfe, Hath ofte sythys sorow and mischaunce. 1655 W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. (1845) 46 Man..knows not his time..he comes when the bird is flown. 1656 Hobbes Liberty, etc. (1841) 117 T. H. thinks to kill two birds with one stone, and satisfy two arguments with one answer. 1823 Galt Entail lvi, It's a foul bird that files it's ain nest. Prov. The early bird catches the worm. |
II. In combinations.
7. With some defining word connected by
of, as
Bird of Freedom U.S., the emblematic bird of the
U.S. (see
eagle n. 1);
bird of Jove, the eagle;
bird of Juno, the peacock; also, a hawk;
bird of paradise, (
a) a bird belonging to the family Paradiseidæ, found chiefly in New Guinea, and remarkable for the beauty of their plumage; also
fig.; (
b)
Astron. (see
quot. 1659); (
c)
bird-of-paradise flower, a perennial musaceous plant,
Strelitzia reginæ, having scapes of purple and orange flowers;
bird of passage, any migratory bird; (see also
passage n. 1 e );
bird of prey (see
prey n. 4 b);
Bird of Washington, the American Eagle (
Falco leucocephalus);
bird of wonder, the phœnix.
| 1848 Lowell Biglow P. Ser. i. ii. 28 Yourn, Birdofredom Sawin. 1854 B. F. Taylor Jan. & June 120 The Bird of Freedom inclined his body forward. 1906 Harper's Mag. Mar. 638 The short story is peculiarly an American institution, and we are as proud of it as we are of the ‘Bird of Freedom’. |
| 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 185 The Bird of Jove, stoopt from his aerie tour. |
| 1733 Pope Song Person Qual., See the bird of Juno stooping. |
| 1606 J. Carpenter Solomon's Solace xxi. 86 The bird of Paradise, which beeing taken in a snare is neuer quiet. 1638 Wilkins New World i. (1684) 175 The Birds of Paradise..reside Constantly in the Air. a 1649 Crashaw Carmen Deo Nostro (1652) f. a. ij verso, With heauenly riches: which had wholy call'd His thoughtes from earth, to liue aboue in'th aire A very bird of paradice. 1659 Moxon Tutor Astron. i. iii. §10. 19 There are in Heaven yet twelve Constellations more, posited about the South Pole, which were added by Frederico Houtmanno,..who..named them as follows..4 The Peacock, 5 The Bird of Paradice, 6 The Fly. 1663 T. Killigrew Parsons Wedding iii. ii, Wild. A Bird of Paradise, what's that? Capt. A Girl of Fifteen, smooth as Satten, White as her Sunday Apron, Plump, and of the first down. 1850 Jrnl. Ind. Archipel. IV. 182 The birds of paradise are natives of New Guinea. 1884 W. Miller Dict. Eng. Names of Plants 253/2 Strelitzia. Bird's-tongue-Flower, Bird-of-Paradise-Flower. 1926 D. H. Lawrence Glad Ghosts 5 She showed off a bit, it is true, playing bird of paradise among the pigeons. |
| 1791 E. Darwin Bot. Gard. ii. 26 note, The arrival of certain birds of passage. |
| 1868 Wood Homes without H. xxviii. 532 The well known Bald-headed Eagle, sometimes called the Bird of Washington. |
| 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, v. v. 41 The Bird of Wonder dyes, the Mayden Phoenix. 1620 Melton Astrolog. 21 Impostors..like the Bird of Wonder, flye the light of the Citie. |
8. General combinations:
a. objective with
pres. pple.,
vbl. n., or agent-noun, as
bird-alluring,
bird-angler,
† bird-batting (
= bat-fowling),
bird-catcher,
bird-catching,
bird-echoing,
bird-fancier,
bird-keeper,
bird-lover,
bird-marking,
bird-netting,
bird-seller,
bird-snaring,
bird-stuffer,
bird-stuffing,
bird-tenting.
b. instrumental, as
bird-conjurer,
bird-divination,
bird-diviner,
bird-ridden,
† bird-speller;
bird-haunted.
c. parasynthetic and similative, as
bird-black,
bird-blithe,
bird-clear,
bird-eyed,
bird-fingered,
bird-headed,
bird-high,
bird-voiced,
bird-winged.
d. attrib. (of or pertaining to birds), as
bird-architecture,
bird-chorus,
bird-claw,
bird-flight,
bird-migration,
bird-music,
bird-note,
bird-skin,
bird-voice; (connected with the scaring, catching, selling, or training of birds), as
bird-boy,
bird-box,
bird-fair,
bird-net,
bird-pole,
bird-rock,
bird-shop. Also
bird-like adj.| 1653 Walton Angler xi. 206 This *Bird-Angler standing upon the top of a steeple to [catch swallows]. |
| 1742 Fielding J. Andrews ii. x, *Bird-batting.. is performed by holding a large clap-net before a lanthorn, and at the same time beating the bushes. |
| 1918 E. Sitwell Clowns' Houses 10 Amid thick leaves I saw the wink Of *bird-black eyes. |
| 1917 D. H. Lawrence Look! We have come Through! 84 You *bird-blithe, lovely Angel in disguise. |
| 1869 A. R. Wallace Malay Archipelago I. iii. 46 We took with us..insect and *bird boxes,..guns and ammunition. 1914 W. M. Webb in Bird-Lover i. 3 The requests for bird-boxes..led to the keeper being employed in autumn and winter in making them. |
| 1850 Househ. Words I. 545 You shall be *bird-boy when the sowing season comes on. |
| 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong., Pippe, a little pipe the which *bird catchers doe vse. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 8 July 8/1 The cruel trade carried on by the bird-catcher. |
| 1687 R. Lestrange Answ. Diss. 7 The Skill and Address of *Bird-catching. |
| 1889 W. B. Yeats Wanderings of Oisin iii. 38 Golden the nails of his *bird-claws. 1922 W. de la Mare Down-adown-Derry 8 Never so much as a bird-claw print Of footfall to be seen. |
| 1838 ― Memory 16 Her glistening *bird-clear eyes. |
| 1382 Wyclif Deut. xviii. 14 Thes gentils..*brydd coniurers and dyuynours heren. |
| ― Jer. xxvii. 9 Sweueneres, and *brid deuyneres. |
| 1670 Gale Crt. Gentiles II. iii. 68 Now this *Bird-divination was gathered chiefly by the flying or singing of Birds. |
| 1928 C. Day Lewis Country Comets 24 We let The brave, *bird-echoing sunlight in. |
| 1564 W. Bullein Dial. agst Pest f. 43 recto, He is a *burde iyed iade, I warrant you. 1590 Pasquil's Apol. i. C iij, The fellowe is bird eyed, he startles and snuffes at euery shadow. 1933 W. de la Mare Fleeting 80 In your bird-eyed wonder. |
| 1773 Barrington in Phil. Trans. LXIII. 283 The *bird-fanciers will not keep them. |
| 1852 Arnold Empedocles, etc. 88 Some wet *bird-haunted English lawn. 1897 Daily News 29 June 6/3 The bird-haunted estuary of a river falling into Lake Tanganyika. |
| 1916 Jrnl. R. Anthrop. Inst. XLVI. 184 The human figure with the two supporting *bird-headed manaias, a design recurring..through the whole field of Maori carving. 1958 Bird-headed [see bird-mask under sense 9]. |
| 1920 E. Sitwell Wooden Pegasus 81 *Bird-high voices shrill and chatter. |
| 1880 Jefferies Gt. Estate i. 4 Should anyone in authority ask where that gun went off, the labourer ‘thenks it wur th' *birdkippur up in th' Dree Vurlong’. 1938 British Birds XXXI. 375 A Common Partridge..was taken to St. James's Park and handed over to the bird-keeper. |
| 1587 Golding De Mornay xvii. 270 Reteyning nothing..of her *birdlike nature. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. viii. lxi. 550 His bird-like hope..soared again. |
| 1866 C. M. Yonge Dove in Eagle's Nest I. iv. 83 The gentle Minnesinger and *bird lover, Walther von Vogelweide. 1938 British Birds XXXI. 383 Richmond Park has much to interest the bird-lover. |
| 1909 British Birds 1 Apr. 364 To show the value of *bird-marking I conclude by giving short summaries of the results obtained at Rossitten. |
| 1908 Westm. Gaz. 1 Feb. 16/1 The *bird-migration routes. |
| 1533–4 Act 25 Hen. VIII, vii, By means of any wele, butte, net, *berd net of heare. |
| 1908 Westm. Gaz. 26 June 4/1 A different *bird-note seems to come from every bush and corner. |
| 1835 Beckford Recoll. 163 These *bird-ridden dominions. |
| 1898 R. Kearton Wild Life at Home iii. 99 Ailsa Craig..is a capital *bird-rock. |
| 1778 J. Cook Jrnl. 26 Oct. (1967) III. ii. 1142 Their dress consists of a *bird skin Frock. 1904 Daily Chron. 7 May 5/6 Birdskin garments from the islands of the South Pacific. 1933 Brit. Birds XXVII. 174 For over forty years I have been collecting bird-skins for various scientific purposes. |
| 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. xiv. 4 *Birdspellers and other heathen soothsayers. |
| 1899 Daily News 10 June 8/5 Go bird-nesting or *bird-snaring in one of the parks. |
| 1838 Audubon Ornith. Biogr. IV. 271 A *bird-stuffer whom I knew at Camden had many fine specimens. |
| 1861 P. B. Du Chaillu Equat. Afr. xv. 274 After dinner *bird-stuffing goes on. |
| 1864 Times 18 May, ‘*Bird-tenting’ in England means shooting birds or scaring them away..in Australia..preserving birds with the most assiduous care. |
| 1904 W. H. Hudson Green Mansions iii. 41 Hearing nothing except the usual *bird voices. 1923 R. Graves Whipperginny 68 Now a bird-voice sings, And a loud throat bellows. |
| 1925 E. Sitwell Troy Park 48/1 *Bird-voiced fire screams. |
| 1869 A. R. Wallace Malay Archipelago II. xxx. 199 One of the most magnificent insects the world contains, the great *bird-winged butterfly, Ornithoptera poseidon. 1903 Kipling Five Nations 41 The blazoned, bird-winged butterflies. 1936 Discovery Dec. 367/1 The Troides or Ornithoptera, the magnificent bird-winged butterflies, are the glory of the eastern tropics. |
9. Special comb.:
bird-band, an identifying band fixed on to a bird's leg; so
bird-bander,
bird-banding;
bird bath, a vessel,
usu. in a garden, for birds to bathe in;
bird brain, (a person with) a small brain; so
bird-brained a., having a small brain;
fig. inattentive, flighty (
cf. bird-witted);
bird-call, an instrument for imitating the note of birds, in order to attract or decoy them;
bird-catching,
-eating spider = bird-spider;
bird- (or bird's) cherry, a wild fruit tree or shrub (
Prunus Padus) bearing a small astringent drupe; but formerly, the Wild Cherry (
P. Avium);
bird dog U.S., a gun dog trained to retrieve birds;
bird-fly, a fly (
Ornithomyia) which lives under the plumage of birds;
bird-fountain, a glass vessel of special construction for caged birds to drink out of;
† bird-gaze, auspice;
† bird-gazer, an augur;
bird-glasses, field-glasses for observing birds;
bird-land, the land or realm of birds; so
bird-folk,
bird-world;
bird-life = avifauna; also, the life and habits of birds;
bird-lore, the facts and beliefs concerning birds and their life and habits (see also
lore n.1 5 a);
bird-louse, any of the small wingless insects of the family Mallophaga, parasitic on birds and mammals;
bird-mask, a mask resembling a bird's face; hence
bird-masked adj.;
bird-mouthed a., having a mouth like a bird;
hence, unwilling to speak out, inclined to mince matters (
obs.);
† bird-nut, a variety of walnut;
bird-organ, a small organ used in teaching birds to sing;
bird-pepper, kinds of capsicum (
C. baccatum and
frutescens);
bird-ringing = bird-banding; so
bird-ringer;
bird sanctuary, a piece of land where birds are protected, and encouraged to build and breed;
bird-seed, canary-seed, hemp, millet, plantain, or other seeds given to caged birds;
bird-shot orig. U.S. = dust-shot s.v. dust n.1 8 e;
bird-snake, a S. African tree-snake,
Thelotornis capensis, that preys on birds;
bird-song (see
song 3);
bird-spider, a large hairy spider (
Mygale or
Avicularia) of tropical America, which kills small birds;
bird-spider fly (see
quot. 1844);
bird-spit, a spit for roasting birds on,
† fig. a rapier;
bird-stone U.S. (see
quot. 1907);
bird-strike (see
quots.);
bird table, a raised platform on which food for birds is placed;
bird-tick, a fly (
Olfersia) parasitic upon birds (
Riverside Nat. Hist. 1888 II. 433);
bird-watching, the study of birds in their homes and haunts by a naturalist or bird-lover; also as
ppl. a.; also
bird-watcher, one who thus observes the ways of birds;
bird-witted a., lacking the faculty of attention, flitting from subject to subject;
bird-wittedness, the condition of being bird-witted;
bird-world (see
bird-land above). Also
bird-bolt,
bird-cage.
| 1939 Nat. Geogr. Mag. Mar. 368 My companion placed *bird bands around their legs and released them one by one. |
| 1914 Country Life July 36/2 One of the first questions asked of the *bird-bander, is ‘How do you get hold of the bird in order to band it?’ |
| 1912 Technical World Mag. 214/1 The *Bird Banding Association of America has just been formed in New York. 1954 Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles III. 209 As we have learned from the results of bird-banding, the ring-ouzel..has many miles to travel before it reaches our shores. |
| 1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. 545 *Bird baths, white or opal for large sized birds. 1912 Jekyll & Weaver Gardens for Small Country Houses xiv. 165 A shallow bird bath made of lead. 1933 Boys' Mag. xlvii. 106/1 Some gardens boast of superb and ornamental bird baths. |
| 1943 Gen 2 Jan. 28/1 There are more *birdbrains and dim-wits outside the boxing ring..as ever stepped around in it. 1948 H. Lawrence Death of Doll iv. 87 Jewel has a bird brain. You know what a bird brain is? Teeny-weeny. |
| 1922 M. A. von Arnim Enchanted April xii. 176 *Bird-brained... Not an idea in her head. |
| a 1625 Fletcher Bl. Brother iv. ii, 'Tis Pippeau That is your *bird-call. 1773 Barrington in Phil. Trans. LXIII. 272 Easily imposed upon by that most imperfect of all instruments, a bird-call. |
| 1805 Bingley Anim. Biog. III. 489 The *Bird-catching Spider. 1871 Kingsley At Last xvii, A live ‘Tarantula’, or bird-catching spider. |
| 1597 Gerard Herbal iii. cxxx. §9 The *Birds Cherry-tree, or the blacke Cherry-tree..vsed for stockes to graft other Cherries vpon. 1863 Kingsley Water Bab. (ed. 2) 15 The bird-cherry with its tassels of snow. |
| 1888 in Amer. Speech (1960) XXXV. 267 *Bird-dog, a dog which accompanies a bird-hunter for the purpose of scenting the game and picking it up after it falls. 1923 J. Miner J. M. & Birds xv. 61 He went for his bird dog, thus giving the drake nearly an hour to make his escape. |
| 1792 M. Riddell Voy. Madeira 73 The aranea avicularia, and the aranea venatoria, the great hairy *bird-eating spider of Brasil. 1934 Haldane & Huxley Animal Biol. xii. 277 South American bird-eating spider. |
| 1901 F. T. Bullen Sack of Shakings 10 The hovering *bird-folk gathered in myriads. |
| c 1865 Letheby in Circ. Sc. I. 110/1 Constructed on the principle of the *bird-fountain. |
| 1587 Golding De Mornay xxii. 335 Cato wondered how two *Birdgazers could meet..or looke one vpon another without laughing. |
| 1924 A. D. Sedgwick Little French Girl i. vi, Yes, I can see him... And with his *bird-glasses. He would have been watching birds. 1924 R. Macaulay Orphan Island iii, William..produced his bird-glasses and said no, it would, on the other hand, be a frigate-bird. |
| 1900 O. G. Pike (title) In *Bird-Land with Field Glass and Camera. 1940 C. Day Lewis tr. Virgil's Georgics ii. p. 48 And blood-red berries like rubies adorn the untilled bird-land. |
| 1874 E. Coues Field Ornith. iii. 30 *Bird-life is too beautiful a thing to destroy to no purpose. 1910 W. H. Hudson Shepherd's Life p. x, Bird-life on the Downs. 1934 Discovery Oct. 293/1 It is not true..that bird-life in this country is decreasing and that the future of British bird-life is one of depleted numbers. |
| 1830 ‘Dilettante’ [= W. Barnes] in Gent. Mag. June 503/2 Ornithology, should be *birdlore. |
| 1826 Kirby & Spence Entomol. III. xxix. 97 The egg..of some *bird-louse attached to the golden pheasant..resembles the purest wax. 1887 Buck's Handbk. Med. Sci. V. 751/1 Mallophaga (Bird-lice). Distinguished from the lice by possessing three- to five-jointed antennæ. |
| 1930 E. Sitwell Coll. Poems 88 The Sun, that blackamoor, Comes in a *bird-mask With a bird-flute. 1958 E. A. Armstrong Folklore of Birds i. 11 Some of the other human figures are indeed bird-headed and presumably wearing bird masks. Ibid. i. 16 A group of people..including apparently bird-masked officiants. |
| 1610 Healey St. Aug. Citie of God 746 They [the disciples] were not *bird-mouthed unto him [Christ]. 1837 Galt in Fraser's Mag. XVI. 24 I am not deemed bird-mouthed on peremptory occasions. |
| 1676 Worlidge Cyder (1691) 227 Called the *Bird-nut, from the resemblance the kernel hath to a bird, with its wings displayed..after the nut is slit in the middle. |
| 1851 *Bird organ [see minuet-tune s.v. minuet n. 3]. |
| 1786 P. Browne Jamaica 176 *Bird Pepper. The capsule and seeds..are used by most people in these colonies. |
| 1949 British Birds XLII. 102 *Bird ringers generally state the size of the brood when ringing nestlings. |
| 1927 Ibid. XXI. 134 (title) Traps for *Bird Ringing. 1936 Ibid. XXIX. 226 The bird-ringing trap in the garden..was missing a great deal of the visible small bird migration. |
| 1887 Leisure Hour 69/1 Mr. Maynard..has suggested the establishment of ‘*bird sanctuaries’ along Cape Cod and other coast regions. 1922 (title) Bird sanctuaries in Royal Parks. |
| 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop I. xiii. 163, I can buy some *birdseed. 1909 Daily Chron. 25 Sept. 5/3 A bird-seed company. |
| 1630 J. Winthrop Let. 14 Aug. in Winthrop Papers (1931) II. 310 We have powder and peeces enough, but want flintes and *birdshott. 1761 Boston Gaz. 28 Sept. 3/3 To be sold by George Deblois..best gun powder and flints, bird, pigeon, duck, and goose shot. 1874 R. H. Collins Kentucky I. 217/2, 7 Radical negroes, at 2a.m., called out of his house one who voted the Democratic ticket, and kukluxed him by shooting him with bird-shot. 1936 R. Campbell Mithraic Emblems 58 A wind..Shook opals from the vernal palms Birdshot of the silver huntress By which the nightingale was slain. 1986 Philadelphia Inquirer 11 July a4/4 Birdshot and tear gas were fired toward the attacking prisoners, he said. |
| 1910 F. W. Fitzsimons Snakes S. Afr. iii. 57/1 Thelotornis kirtlandii. *Bird Snake... Distribution Tropical Africa. All over South Africa. 1954 J. A. Pringle Common Snakes 4 The Bird-snake has a long thin body which is admirably suited for its arboreal life... It is common in the Lowveld of the Transvaal. |
| 1896 R. L. Stevenson Songs of Travel 15 *Bird-song at morning. 1927 E. M. Nicholson How Birds Live iv. 39 It has become impossible now to treat the subject of territory without taking into consideration bird-song. |
| 1826 Kirby & Spence Entomol. III. xxviii. 40 In the class Arachnida, the *bird-spiders (Mygale ) are amongst the principal giants. 1840 J. & M. Loudon tr. Köllar's Treat. Insects i. 67 The Bird Spider-Fly..is scarcely half as large as the forest fly. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm III. 856 The smallest insect on the same cut is the Bird-spider fly, Ornithomyia avicularia. |
| 1607 Miseries Enf. Marr. in Hazl. Dodsl. IX. 563 Put up your *bird-spit, tut, I fear it not. |
| 1881 C. C. Abbott Primitive Industry 365 The curious carved ‘*bird stones’, common to our Atlantic coast states. 1907 F. W. Hodge et al. Amer. Indians I. 148/1 Bird-stones, a name given to a class of prehistoric stone objects of undetermined purpose, usually resembling or remotely suggesting the form of a bird. |
| 1963 Daily Tel. 19 June 19/2 The..search..to find the answer to the growing menace of what they call ‘*birdstrike’, the paralysing, sometimes fatal, effect of a bird being drawn into a jet engine. 1967 Idle Moments Oct. 15 The (RN) Air Station at Lossiemouth..had the worst record of any airfield in the United Kingdom for birdstrikes—collisions between birds and aircraft. |
| [1894 Nature Notes V. 5 A pair of hedge-sparrows frequented the shrubs surrounding the table..content to pick up the crumbs underneath, dropped by the other birds.] 1905 Country-side I. 82/3 A cock chaffinch will often play the bully at your *bird-table. 1931 Boys' Mag. XLV. 140/2 The large platform a little way beneath the bird table is a safeguard against cats. |
| 1905 E. Selous (title) The *Bird Watcher in the Shetlands. 1930 J. S. Huxley Bird-Watching i. 13 From the bird-watcher pure and simple it is but a step to the bird-watcher naturalist. |
| 1901 E. Selous (title) *Bird Watching. 1920 Edin. Rev. Jan. 63 Bird-Watching as a Hobby. 1930 J. S. Huxley Bird-Watching iii. 52 Accompanying Mr. Eliot Howard..on his bird-watching rounds. Ibid. iv. 64 A party of bird-watching friends. |
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learning ii. (1861) 228 If a child be *bird-witted, that is, hath not the faculty of attention, the Mathematics giveth a remedy thereunto. 1658 Ussher, Ann. vi. 360 [He] proved..but a bird-witted man. |
| 1904 Raymont Princ. Educ. x. 231 The deliberate cultivation of mere irrelevance and *bird-wittedness. 1910 ‘Mark Rutherford’ More Pages fr. Jrnl. 90 The birdwittedness, the absence of resistance and of difficulty, were intolerable. |
| 1881 A. Leslie tr. Nordenskiöld's Voyage of Vega II. xi. 42 The acquaintance I had made..with the *bird-world of the high north. 1904 Westm. Gaz. 20 Aug. 2/3 In the bird-world the lark has an exclusive and singular reputation for early rising. 1907 Daily Chron. 16 Feb. 6/7 The albinos—those freaks of nature in the bird-world. |
10. Combinations of
bird's (chiefly similative):
a. gen., as
bird's-beak moulding (see
quot.);
bird's-mouth, an interior or re-entrant angle cut out of the end of a piece of timber.
| 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 191 Fitted..to its bearings, and to the newel, with a re-entrant angle, or bird's mouth. 1862 Rickman Goth. Archit. 15 The most complex of all mouldings is the birds-beak. 1876 Gwilt Archit. Gloss., Bird's-beak moulding, a moulding which in section forms an ovolo or ogee with or without a fillet under it followed by a hollow. |
b. esp. in plant-names;
e.g. bird's bill,
Trigonella ornithorhynchus;
bird's bread, the Small Yellow Stone-crop (
Sedum acre);
bird's eggs, the Bladder Campion (
Silene inflata);
bird's orchis;
bird's pease;
bird's tare, a species of Arachis;
bird's tongue, applied to numerous plants, usually in reference to the shape of their leaves, as the Greater Stitchwort (
Stellaria holostea), the Common Maple, Scarlet Pimpernel, Great Fen Ragwort (
Senecio paludosus), Ornithoglossum; also the fruit of the ash-tree. See also bird's eye, bird's foot, bird's nest.
| 1597 Gerard Herbal i. cxiii. (1633) 213 *Birds Orchis. The flowers..like in shape unto little birds, with their wings spread abroad ready to fly. |
| 1713 J. Petiver in Phil. Trans. XXVIII. 211 Winged *Birds Pease or Ochre. |
| 1597 Gerard Herbal Table Supp., *Birds Tongue is Stitch-wort. |
| Ibid. ii. clxi, Knot grasse is called..in the North *Birds tongue. |
| 1770 Withering Brit. Plants (1830) III. xix. 939 Senecio paludosus. *Bird's-tongue Groundsel. |
Add:
[II.] [8.] [d.] bird book.
| 1900 Nature 1 Feb. 323/1 (heading) Three new *bird books. 1937 C'tess of Warwick in S. V. Benson Observer's Bk. Brit. Birds 16, I have read many of these books, for I love birds.., but I do not remember seeing any bird book like this one before. 1965 Jrnl. Lancs. Dial. Soc. Jan. 5 They are listed in Wetmore Order, i.e. the system of classification which is generally accepted in modern bird books. 1989 I. Frazier Great Plains i. 14 Birds with long curved bills (Hudsonian godwits, the bird book said) flew just above us. |
▸
bird dog n. N. Amer. colloq. a scout;
esp. (
Sport) a talent scout.
| 1934 M. H. Weseen Dict. Amer. Slang 308 Bird-dog, a stock broker's agent who scouts for prospects. 1948 S. Nisenson Giant Bk. Sports 48 When a minor-league player tells his teammates, ‘There's a bird dog in the stands today,’ he means that the team is being scouted. 2005 N.Y. Mag. 7 Mar. 25/2 He'd met..a legendary old-time scout, one of the last bird dogs to wear a tie and a straw fedora to ball games. |
▸
bird flu n. = avian influenza n. at
avian adj. Additions.
| 1980 Syracuse (N.Y.) Post-Standard 12 Aug. a9/1, I understand that a strange disease that is killing young harbor seals..is related somehow to the type of influenza sometimes found in birds. If that is true, does it also suggest that *bird flu could spread to humans? 1993 Sacramento (Calif.) Bee (Nexis) 3 Jan. b8 A vaccine for Newcastle disease, a bird flu that decimated entire populations of domestic chickens until the 1950s. 2005 Guardian Unlimited (Nexis) 3 Nov. The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has killed more than 60 people in south east Asia since late 2003. Principally an avian disease, bird flu was first seen in humans in Hong Kong in 1997. |
▪ II. bird, v. (
bɜːd)
Also 6
bryd.
[f. prec.] 1. intr. To pursue birdcatching or fowling.
| 1576 Gascoigne Steel Gl. Epil., Till they have caught the birds for whom they bryded. 1580 Baret Alv. B 707 To birde, foule, or hauke. |
† 2. to bird off: to ‘pick off’ with a musket, etc. (as a sportsman a bird).
Obs. rare.
| 1700 Rycaut Hist. Turks iii. 151 Their Men wading over a marshy Ground..sticking in the Mire, were birded off and killed with Musquet-shot. |
3. trans. To give the bird to (an actor, entertainer, etc.): see
bird n. 5 b.
colloq.| 1936 N. Coward Red Peppers 93 Lot of hooligans birding the poor old man. |
▪ III. bird pa. tense of
bir v.
Obs. to pertain, befit.