parakeet, paroquet, parr-
(ˈpærəkiːt, ˈpærəkɪt)
Forms: α. 6 parroket, 7 parrocquet, parocket, 7–9 perroquet, (8 paraquet), 8– paro-, parroquet. β. 6 (? parakitie), parrachito, 6–7 paraquit(t)o, 7 parraquito, parakito, -keeto, -chito, -que(e)to; perokito, -chito; par(r)akita; parraketto, paraketo, -cketto, paroqueto, 7–8 paraquetto. γ. 7 parakeete, parrakeit, 7–8 parakite, (8 parrochite, paroqueet, 9 -keet), 7– parakeet, 8– parrakeet.
[Several forms, repr. (α) OF. paroquet (14th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), mod.F. perroquet parrot; (β) It. parrochetto, -ucchetto, perrochetto (also in Florio, parochito ‘a little Parret or Parochito’), Sp. periquito (recent); (γ) an anglicized form of this as par(r)akeet. The OF. paroquet is held by Darmesteter to be ad. It. parrochetto, dim. of ˈparroco parson (cf. moineau sparrow, dim. of moine monk); but some think the typical It. form to be parrucchetto, as dim. of parrucca ‘peruke, periwig’, in reference to the plumage of the head in some species. In Sp. periquito is a later dim. of the much commoner name perico, supposed to be the same word as Perico, colloquial dim. of Pedro Peter: cf. parrot. The relations between the Sp. and It. forms cannot be settled until the chronology is known; prob. the name has been modified by popular etymology in one or both.
As the parrot was known in Italy from Roman times downward, the name parrochetto, etc., may have originated there rather than (as sometimes assumed) with the Spanish and Portuguese navigators.]
A bird of the parrot kind; now spec. applied to the smaller birds included in the order, esp. those having long tails.
The species best known and having the widest range is the ring-necked parakeet (Palæornis torquatus), often kept as a cage bird; another well-known species is the Alexandrine parakeet (P. alexandri); the common parakeet of the United States is Conurus carolinensis; special genera of parrots are known as grass-parakeets, ground-parakeets.
| α 1581 Hamilton Cath. Traict. in Cath. Tractates (S.T.S.) 102 For him and sik vtheris, quha lyk parrokettis enterteneis the auditouris be clattering tellis. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. iii. 38 In some places Parrocquets are taken after the same manner. 1698 Froger Voy. 47 Small birds, with fine feathers: among them there are Perroquets, Cardinals, and Colibries. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 71 Here were some Flocks of Parockets. 1713 Berkeley Guard. No. 49 ¶7, I look on the beaus and ladies as so many paraquets in an aviary. 1718 Prior Dove 91, I would not give my Paroquet For all the Doves that ever flew. 1776 Phil. Trans. LXVI. 574 A perroquet..got from his master some of the boiled fish. 1796 Stedman Surinam II. xvii. 32 Beautiful paroquets, which are a species of parrots, but smaller though not less common. 1846 G. Gardner Brazil 179 Parroquets,..keeping up an almost continual cry of Parroquet—Parroquet. |
| β c 1595 Capt. Wyatt R. Dudley's Voy. W. Ind. (Hakl. Soc.) 38 Infinite store of parratts, parakities, and other great birds of most fine and well mixed collers. 1596 Raleigh Discov. Gviana 61 They brought vs also..a sort of Paraquitos, no bigger than wrens. 1599 T. M[oufet] Silkwormes 66 Millet seede wherewith Parrachitos are fed. 1603 Florio Montaigne ii. viii. (1632) 214 Loved..for our pastimes, as we do apes, monkies, or perokitoes. 1644 Quarles Sheph. Orac. iv, We discipline them, teach them how to prate, Like Parakitoes, words they know not what. a 1652 Brome City Wit i. 1. Wks. 1873 I. 286 Madame, how does your Monckey, your Parrot, and Parraquitoes? 1652 S. S. Secretary's Studie 37 None of your jigging Girles, that pearch Paraquettos on their fists. 1675 Lond. Gaz. No. 1014/4 A Green Parraketto, with a black and red Ring about his Neck, lost. 1682 S. Wilson Acc. Carolina 12 In the woods great plenty of wilde..Turtle Doves, Paraquetos, and Pidgeons. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 282/2 The Scarlet Parakeeto, is no larger than a Black bird. 1706 Phillips, Paraquetto, a small sort of Parret, a Bird. |
| γ 1621 Sir R. Boyle Diary in Lismore Papers (1886) II. 15 A purse of sylck lyke a parakeete. 1688 Lond. Gaz. No. 2341/4 A Little Parakeet with a red Head, a green, red, and black Tail..flew out of a Window.., on Sunday last. 1700 Wallace Acc. New Caledonia in Darien in Misc. Cur. (1708) III. 417 Parrots of many kinds, Parakites Macaws. 1705 W. Bosman Guinea xv. (1721) 255 Two small Parrochites, or Guinea Sparrows. 1750 G. Hughes Barbadoes iii. 73 The Parakite..is of the frugivorous Kind and about the Bigness of a Thrush. 1847 L. Hunt Men, Women, & B. (1876) 36 What prodigious chattering and brilliant colours in the maccaws and parrakeets. 1853 Kingsley Hypatia xxii, Strange birds from India, parakeets, peacocks, pheasants. 1879 E. Arnold Lt. Asia (1889) 151 Wild fruit..plucked By purple parokeet. |
b. Applied allusively to persons,
i.e. in reference to the chattering or imitative faculty of the birds, or to their gay plumage:
cf. parrot n.| 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, ii. iii. 88 Come, come, you Paraquito, answer me directly vnto this question, that I shall aske. 1650 B. Discolliminium 41 Some young Parackettoes now nursing up in the Universities. 1661 K. W. Conf. Charac., Cambr. Minion, A Cambridge paraketo is an outlandish ape, whose mimick disposition makes her shape her seacole vestures into the form of the fashion. a 1668 Davenant Man's the Master ii. i, That damsel is too pert,..you should keep these paraqueetos in a cage. 1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. xxxiii, The young woman..a sort of paroquet in a bright blue dress. |