ˈsong-bird
[song n.]
1. A bird having the power of song; a singing-bird. (Cf. songster 3.)
| 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. iv. iii. (1824) II. 338 Of the nightingale and other soft-billed song birds. 1783 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2) X. 8670/1 The deficiency of most other song-birds in that country. 1857 Livingstone Trav. xvii. 325 It is remarkable that so many song-birds abound where there is a general paucity of other animal life. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets viii. 235 Like song-birds rejoicing in their flight. |
2. transf. A superb (female) singer.
| 1886 C. E. Pascoe London of To-day x. (ed. 3) 106 The reigning queens of song..are hardly overpaid. Such song⁓birds are exceedingly rare. 1896 Godey's Mag. Apr. 412/2 The second of the noted Magyar song-birds within current recollection was Etelka Gerster. |