sparrow
(ˈspærəʊ)
Forms: α. 1 spearu(u)a, spearwa, 4 sperwe, 4–5 sparwe; 1 spearewa, 3–5 sparewe. β. 1 spearuwa, 3 speruwe, 5 sperow, sperrowe; 3 sparuwe, 4–6 sparowe, (4, 6–7 sparr-), sparow, 4, 6 sparou (4 sparov, sparu, sparw, 5 sparoo), 6– sparrow.
[OE. spearwa, etc., = Goth. sparwa, MHG. sparwe, sparbe, sperwe, older Da. sparwe, sporwe, sp{obar}rwe (Da. spurv, Norw. dial. sporv, sparv, Sw. sparf; also obs. Da. spurg, sporig, NFris. sparreg). The original w of the stem has disappeared in OHG. sparo (MHG. spare, spar, G. dial. spar; cf. MHG. sperlinc, G. sperling) and ON. spǫrr (Norw. dial. sporr, sp{obar}r, obs. Da. sparre, spurre). Outside of Teutonic the stem seems to occur in OPruss. spurglis sparrow, spergla-wanags sparrow-hawk.
The forms speara in the Vesp. Ps. lxxxiii. 4 and spare in the earlier Wycliffite Ps. ci. 8, although similar to the Continental forms without w, are so isolated in Eng. that they may be mere scribal errors.]
1. a. A small brownish-grey bird of the family Fringillidae, indigenous to Europe, where it is very common, and naturalized in various other countries; esp. the house-sparrow Passer domesticus.
| α c 725 Corpus Gloss. F 128 Fenus, spearua. c 825 Vesp. Psalter ci. 8 Ᵹeworden ic eam swe swe spearwa..in timbre. c 900 tr. Baeda's Hist. ii. xiii. (1890) 136 Cume an spearwa & hrædlice þæt hus þurhfleo. c 1100 O.E. Chron. (MS. D) an. 1067, He..sæið þæt..an spearwa on gryn ne mæᵹ befeallan forutan his foresceawunge. c 1205 Lay. 29274 He lette forð wenden swiðe ueole sparewen; Þa sparwen heore flut no⁓men [etc.]. a 1325 Prose Psalter x. 1 Wende þou in-to heuen as a sparwe? c 1340 Nominale (Skeat) 390 [Man] takith sperwe in nette. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 195 Þei ben betere þan many sparewis. c 1400 Brut xcv. 94 Þai..token peces of tunder..and bonde to sparwe feet. |
| β c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Thorpe) ci. 5 Ic spearuwan..ᵹelice ᵹe⁓wearð. a 1225 Ancr. R. 152 Ȝet is ancre iefned her to sparuwe þet is one under roue. Ibid., Ich am..ase speruwe þet is one. a 1300 Cursor M. 11986 Wit handes made he sparus tuelue. a 1340 Hampole Psalter cxxiii. 6 We ere takyn out as sparow þat flees þe snare. 14.. Sir Beues (M.) 2526 Euery man callyd me a sparoo. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 12 The sparow is a lytill foule janglare. a 1529 Skelton P. Sparowe 266 But my sparowe dyd pas All sparowes of the wode. 1555 Eden Decades ii. vii. (Arb.) 129 There is no lesse plentie of popingiais, then with vs of dooues or sparous. 1616 R. C. Times' Whistle (1871) 87 Fine gellies of decocted sparrowes bones. 1708 Prior Turtle & Sparrow 5 The Sparrow..(A Bird that loves to chirp and talk). 1784 Cowper Task v. 65 The sparrows peep, and quit the shelt'ring eaves. 1802 Bingley Anim. Biog. (1813) II. 169 No bird is better known in every part of Great Britain than the Sparrow. 1897 Times 5 Jan. 10/5 Few small birds, with the exception of the robin, will face the sparrow. |
b. Used as a term of endearment.
| c 1600 Timon ii. i. (1842) 24 Lett me but kisse thyne eyes, my sweete delight, My sparrow,..my duck, my cony. |
c. slang. (See
quots.)
| 1879 Gd. Words 739 There are their ‘sparrows’ (beer or beer money), given by householders [to the dustmen] when their dust-holes are emptied. 1902 Daily Chron. 6 Dec. 3/7, I should like to say a few words about the milkman's secret customers, otherwise ‘sparrows’. |
d. A chirpy, quick-witted person; used
spec. of a Londoner, in
cockney sparrow, etc.
| 1861 C. M. Yonge Stokesley Secret iv. 62 ‘A cock⁓sparrow for her London manners.’.. ‘A London-bred sparrow; a pert forward chit.’ 1892 ― That Stick I. ix. 95, I care about my neighbours..after a sort, but the jolly city sparrows of the slums for me! 1961 [see sparrer2]. 1969 J. Gardner Compl. State of Death vi. 116 ‘Your mother's English?’ ‘Yes. Ma's a little cockney sparrow.’ 1969 G. Butler Coffin's Dark Number xii. 151 She recognized her for what she was, one of those sharp little London sparrows. 1977 Zigzag Aug. 4/1 There are never any low class twits, only cockney sparrows and ‘characters’. |
2. With distinguishing terms, denoting varieties of the true sparrow, or other small birds in some way resembling these.
See also
field-,
house-,
Java,
mountain-,
ring-,
Savannah,
swamp-sparrow, and hedge-, reed-, song-, tree-sparrow. Many other names, which have obtained little or no currency, are given in the ornithologies of Edwards, Latham, and Wilson.
| 1668 [see speckled ppl. a.]. 1678 Ray Willughby's Ornith. 385 The foolish Sparrow..is a Sea fowl, and feeds upon fish. It hath the cry of a Jay. a 1705 ― Syn. Avium (1713) 187 Green Sparrow, or Green Humming Bird. 1767 tr. Cranz' Greenland I. 85 The akpalliarsuk, or sea⁓sparrow,..is no larger than a fieldfare. 1771 Encycl. Brit. II. 633/2 The black fringilla..is the American black sparrow with red eyes. Ibid. 634/1 The black fringilla, with a white belly, is the American snow-sparrow of Catesby. 1810 Wilson Amer. Ornith. II. 128 The Chipping sparrow is five inches and a quarter long. 1842 J. B. Fraser Mesopot. & Assyria xv. 368 The becafico is called the fig-sparrow. 1899 W. T. Greene Cage-Birds 59 The Diamond Sparrow, also an Australian, but inhabiting further south than the Zebra Finch. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
sparrow-chatter,
sparrow-hole,
sparrow-kind,
sparrow-legs,
sparrow-pest,
sparrow-shot,
sparrow-trap,
sparrow-tribe;
sparrow-billed,
sparrow coloured,
sparrow-footed,
sparrow-legged adjs.| 1841 J. T. J. Hewlett Parish Clerk I. 288 Cormorants,..and the *sparrow-billed puffins. |
| 1851 W. Anderson Expos. Popery (1878) 125 Such is the *sparrow-chatter of a degenerate..generation. |
| 1815 Stephens in Shaw's Gen. Zool. IX. ii. 385 *Sparrow-coloured Bunting. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 156 The women [have feet] so short & smal, that there⁓upon they be called Struthopodes, i. *sparrow footed. |
| a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 193 *Sparrow-holes under the eaves of a reek. |
| 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) V. 299 Of Birds of the *Sparrow Kind in General. |
| 1886 W. J. Tucker E. Europe 385 A very little man, with a very big abdomen, on *sparrow legs. |
| 1965 F. Sargeson Memoirs of Peon vi. 173 Two young *sparrow-legged ruffians. |
| 1884 York Herald 26 Aug. 6/5 The Chester Farmers' Club met..to discuss the *sparrow pest and its remedies. |
| 1761 Sterne Tr. Shandy iii. x. 33 Small curses..upon great occasions..are but so much waste of our strength... They are like *sparrow shot..fired against a bastion. 1955 L. Durrell Tree of Idleness 48 Under rain, that rattles down the leaves like sparrow-shot. |
| 1876 Smiles Sc. Natur. ii. (ed. 4) 38 A few..boys preparing *sparrow-traps. |
| 1842 Loudon Suburban Hort. 107 Among birds of the *sparrow tribe, the starling deserves particular notice. |
4. a. Special combs.:
sparrow-beak dial. (see
quot.);
sparrow-bottle, a jar suspended on a wall to serve as a nesting-place for sparrows;
sparrow-brain colloq., (a person with) a tiny brain, (a person of) limited intelligence or perception;
sparrow-bub dial., a fledgling sparrow;
sparrow club, a society formed for destroying sparrows;
sparrow cop U.S. slang (see
quots.);
sparrow-fall poet. (
cf. Shakes. Ham. v. ii. 233), a sparrow's death; hence
gen. mortality; also
attrib.;
sparrow-fart, (
a)
dial. and
slang, break of day, very early morning; also
pl.; (
b)
rare, a person of no consequence;
sparrow-hail, the smallest kind of shot;
sparrow-mumbling, the action of holding a cock-sparrow's wing in the mouth, and attempting to draw in the head by movement of the lips;
sparrow-net, a net fixed on a pole, used for catching sparrows living in the eaves of houses or in grain-stacks;
sparrow-picked a., marked with small indentations;
sparrow-pie, a dish proverbially supposed to make the eater sharp-witted;
sparrow-pot = sparrow-bottle;
sparrow-pudding = sparrow-pie;
sparrow-tail, a long narrow coat-tail; also
attrib.| 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss., *Sparrow-beaks, fossil shark's teeth: called also birds' beaks. |
| 1881 N. & Q. 6th Ser. IV. 456 *Sparrow bottles..of red ware..are continually used by most of the farmers in Thorney Fen. |
| 1930 V. Sackville-West Edwardians v. 241, I don't suppose it satisfies anyone, except perhaps a *sparrow⁓brain like mother. 1975 H. Fleetwood Picture of Innocence iii. 45 She didn't actually care about her, and even, with her sparrow brain, despised her. |
| 1917 D. H. Lawrence Look! We have come Through! 159 Curious long-legged foals, and wide-eared calves, and naked *sparrow-bubs. |
| 1886 Pall Mall G. 29 May 4 Clubs, known as ‘*sparrow clubs’, were formed expressly with a view to their utter and speedy extermination. |
| 1896 Harper's Mag. June 104/1 The boys do call a park policeman a *sparrow-cop, don't they? 1935 A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 111/1 Sparrow cop, police or motorcycle officer who patrols parks and boulevards (petty thefts and petting parties). 1960 Wentworth & Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang 506/2 Sparrow cop, a policeman in disfavor with his superiors and assigned to a park to guard the grass. |
| 1946 Dylan Thomas Deaths & Entrances 40 Mammoth and *sparrowfall Everybody's earth. 1970 T. Hughes Crow 32 An old man..Gazed towards the nearby polished shoes And slowly forgot the deaths in Homer The sparrowfall natural economy Of the dark simple curtain. |
| 1886 R. Holland Cheshire Gloss. 331 *Sparrowfarts, very early morning ‘Tha mun be up by sparrowfarts or tha'll be too late.’ 1922 Joyce Ulysses 747 Miss This Miss That Miss Theother lot of sparrowfarts skitting around talking about politics they know as much about as my backside. 1947 D. M. Davin Gorse blooms Pale 194 There we were as usual this morning at Sparrowfart, me with the jeep pulled up in front of the General's caravan. 1974 H. McLeave Only Gentlemen can Play (1975) ii. i. 92 It was important enough to bring you out here at sparrow fart. |
| 1859 J. Watson's Bards Border 53 Some *sparrow-hail wad best despatch him. 1868 W. R. Trench Realities Irish Life (1869) 22 Some flasks of gunpowder and a quantity of ‘sparrow hail’. |
| 1852 Hawker Cornish Ball. (1899) 147 Among them, swallowing living mice and *sparrow-mumbling had frequent place. |
| 1621 Markham Hungers Prev. 101 The Engine or *Sparrow-nette..must carry this fashion or proportion. 1688 Holme Armoury iii. xxii. (Roxb.) 278/1 That on the sinister chief is termed an Eve or Easing nett, or a Sparrow nett or Purse nett. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 323 Many ways are made use of to destroy them; but none more effectual than the large folding Sparrow Net. |
| 1898 F. W. Macey Specifications 130 Granite may be roughly axed, finely axed, *sparrow-picked, or polished. |
| 1881 Blackmore Cristowell xxxvii, How sharp you are! You've been eating *sparrow-pie. 1886 P. Robinson Valley Teet. Trees 87 Introduce another British novelty—and try sparrow-pie. |
| 1831 Rennie Montagu's Ornith. Dict. 486 Unless they multiply their *Sparrow pots yearly. 1833 Loudon Encycl. Archit. §550 The use of these sparrow pots is, to prevent the birds from dirtying the walls or windows with what falls from their nests. |
| 1896 Daily News 3 Nov. 7/2 The heckler..must rise very early in the morning and dine very liberally off ‘*sparrow-pudding’. |
| 1888 Eggleston Graysons xxvi, The lawyers in their blue *sparrow-tail coats with brass buttons, which constituted then [about 1840] a kind of professional uniform. |
b. In names of animals and plants:
sparrow-bunting (see
quot.);
† sparrow-camel, the ostrich;
sparrow-duck dial., the hooded crow;
sparrow-owl, one or other of various small owls,
esp. of the genus
Glaucidium;
† sparrow parrot, a small species of parrot;
† sparrow's toadflax (see
quot. and
sparrow-wort);
sparrow's-tongue, the knot-grass,
Polygonum aviculare;
sparrow-wort (see
quots.).
| 1894–5 Lydekker Roy. Nat. Hist. III. 416 The *sparrow-bunting (Zonotrichia albicollis),..differs from the true buntings by the exposed nostrils. |
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 163 The common opinion of the Oestridge, Struthio⁓camelus, or *Sparrow-Camell conceives that it digesteth Iron. |
| 1895 P. H. Emerson Birds xlix. 140 Kentishmen are sold and eaten as ‘*sparrow-duck’. |
| 1831 Rennie Montagu's Ornith. Dict. 488 The *Sparrow Owl is a very rare species in England. 1870 Gillmore tr. Figuier's Reptiles & Birds 553 Sparrow Owls are of small size. |
| 1787 Latham Syn. Birds Suppl. II. 93 Psittacus fringillaceus. *Sparrow Parrot... General colour green, head blue. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. clvi. 443 Passerina linaria. *Sparrowes Tode flaxe. This plant also for resemblance sake is referred vnto the Linaries, bicause his leaues be like Linaria. |
| a 1400 Stockholm Med. MS. in Archaeol. XXX. 413 *Sparwys-tungge,..Centenodium. 1597 Gerarde Herbal Table Eng. Names, Sparrowes toong, that is Knotgrasse. |
| 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 327 *Sparrow-wort, Passerina. Ibid., Sparrow-wort, Tragus's, Stellera. 1852 G. Johnson Cott. Gard. Dict. 681/2 Passerina. Sparrow-wort... Greenhouse evergreens, white-flowered, and from the Cape of Good Hope. |
Hence
ˈsparrowcide, the destruction of sparrows;
ˈsparrowdom, the region of sparrows;
ˈsparrower, one who snares or kills sparrows;
ˈsparrowhood, the condition of being a sparrow;
ˈsparrowish a., characteristic of a sparrow;
ˈsparrowless, devoid of sparrows;
ˈsparrowling, a young sparrow;
ˈsparrowy a., (
a) abounding in, frequented by, sparrows; (
b) characteristic of or resembling a sparrow; so
sparrowy-looking adj.| 1865 St. James' Mag. Feb. 375 *Sparrowcide is not a modern crime, but was extensively practised by our forefathers. |
| 1880 Fraser's Mag. Jan. 49 At least, when we get outside the cities we get outside of *Sparrowdom. |
| 1830 tr. Aristophanes' Birds 226 Should any one of you slay Philocrates the *Sparrower, he shall receive a talent. |
| 1869 Echo 2 Sept., The sparrows, so soon as ever they grow from the callow state to mature *sparrowhood, become..dark and rusty. |
| 1641 True Char. of Untrue Bishop 4 Witnesse his many *Sparrowish, Wrenlike wanton extravagances. |
| 1848 W. Stirling Artists of Spain I. 371 In these *sparrowless shades, Factor spent much of his time. |
| 1849 Fraser's Mag. XXXIX. 573 A poor, unfledged, twittering *sparrowling. |
| 1891 Meredith One of our Conq. II. iv. 85 London of the *sparrowy roadways and wearisome pavements. |
| 1926 S. Sitwell All Summer in Day i. i. 18 The sun, also, was very sparrowy in voice, and both sun and birds seemed satisfied for the moment. 1948 I. Brown No Idle Words 31 Were they [sc. buntings] bunters in the perky..sparrowy sense. 1953 D. A. Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles I. 300 The female is a sparrowy-looking little bird at all seasons. 1955 R. Graves Greek Myths I. lxxiv. 252 Castor and Polydeuces..come darting on ‘sparrowy wings’ through the upper air. 1976 A. J. Russell Pour Hemlock vii. 63 She clutched steno pad to sparrowy chest. |
______________________________
Add:
[1.] e. pl. (Usu. with capital initial.) In the Philippines, the members of a sparrow unit (see sense *4 a below); a sparrow squad.
| 1983 Christian Science Monitor (New England ed.) 17 May 12/3 They [sc. the NPA] have small units called ‘sparrows’ which concentrate on seizing guns from soldiers. ‘They're called that because sparrows blend into their surroundings so well.’ 1986 Los Angeles Times 18 Aug. i. 7/2 As she tells it, her 26-year-old husband..was an assassin, a member of an elite rebel liquidation squad known as the Sparrows. 1987 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 15 Nov. 27/1 The operations are in response to the killing of 16 people in and around Manila in the past fortnight, all of them thought to be the victims of ‘Sparrows’. 1988 Facts on File 22 Apr. 292/1 Kintanar was believed to be the chief organizer of the guerrilla assassination squads known as ‘Sparrows’. |
[4.] [a.] sparrow squad = *
sparrow unit below.
| 1987 U.S. News & World Rep. 16 Mar. 42/1 Every day, newspapers carry accounts of three or four violent incidents somewhere in the country—local officials ambushed by NPA ‘Sparrow Squad’ assassins, or guerrillas killed by military patrols. 1988 Weekend Australian (Brisbane) 30 Jan. 1/4 The two spokesmen..represented the NPA's Alex Boncayao Brigade (ABB), an urban warfare unit established in Manila in 1984 to carry out assassinations through the operation of small armed units called sparrow squads. |
sparrow unit colloq. [after their fast in-and-out tactics], in the Philippines, any of a number of small guerrilla squads representing the militant sector of the Communist Party, which conduct attacks on policemen, government officials, etc.
| 1984 Summary World Broadcasts: Far East (B.B.C.) 30 June b3 Police operations revealed that members of the so-called sparrow unit were involved in kidnap-for-ransom and other extortion activities to raise funds for their armed struggle against the government. 1989 Christian Science Monitor 28 Apr. 19/3 Urban assassination teams, or ‘sparrow’ units, have killed several Philippine police officers, soldiers, and officials. |