chaffinch
(ˈtʃɑːfɪnʃ, -æ-)
Forms: 5 caffynche, chaffynche, 6 cafinche, chofinch, 7 chawfinch, chaffe-finch, (8 chaffinge, 9 dial. chaffy), 6– chaffinch.
[f. chaff n.1 + finch; as the species of finch which haunts the barndoor and homestead, where it may be seen picking grains of corn out of the chaff and barn-sweepings: cf. the late L. name furfurio (in Isidore), f. furfur bran.]
A very common British bird, Fringilla cælebs, with pretty plumage and pleasant short song.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 68 Caffynche, byrde, furfurio. 1570 Levins Manip. 134 A cafinche, bird, frugella. 1580 Baret Alv. C 288 A Chaffinch, a birde singing in colde weather: a spinke, frigilla. 1661 Morgan Sph. Gentry iii. v. 50 The Chawfinch. 1678 Phillips, Chaffinch..so called because it delighteth in Chaff. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 14 ¶13 The Sparrows and Chaffinches at the Hay-Market fly as yet very irregularly. a 1793 G. White Selborne xii. (1853) 55 Vast flocks of chaffinches have appeared in the fields. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. xvii. (1852) 379 Beaks..from one as large as that of a hawfinch to that of a chaffinch. |