bird

¹

[ burd ]

noun

1. any warm-blooded vertebrate of the class Aves, having a body covered with feathers, forelimbs modified into wings, scaly legs, a beak, and no teeth, and bearing young in a hard-shelled egg.
2. a fowl or game bird.
3. Sports.
   1. clay pigeon.
   2. a shuttlecock.
4. Slang. a person, especially one having some peculiarity:

   He's a queer bird.

5. Informal. an aircraft, spacecraft, or guided missile.
6. Cooking. a thin piece of meat, poultry, or fish rolled around a stuffing and braised:

   veal birds.

7. Southern U.S. (in hunting) a bobwhite.
8. Chiefly British Slang. a girl or young woman.
9. Archaic. the young of any fowl.
10. the bird, Slang.
    1. disapproval, as of a performance, by hissing, booing, etc.:

       He got the bird when he came out on stage.

    2. scoffing or ridicule:

       He was trying to be serious, but we all gave him the bird.

    3. an obscene gesture of contempt made by raising the middle finger.

verb (used without object)

1. to catch or shoot birds.
2. to bird-watch.

Bird

²

[ burd ]

noun

1. Larry, born 1956, U.S. basketball player.

Bird

¹

/ bɜːd /

noun

1. nickname of (Charlie) Parker

bird

²

/ bɜːd /

noun

1. any warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrate of the class Aves , characterized by a body covering of feathers and forelimbs modified as wings. Birds vary in size between the ostrich and the humming bird avianornithic
2. informal.
   a person (usually preceded by a qualifying adjective, as in the phrases rare bird, odd bird, clever bird )
3. slang.
   a girl or young woman, esp one's girlfriend
4. slang.
   prison or a term in prison (esp in the phrase do bird ; shortened from birdlime , rhyming slang for time )
5. a bird in the hand
   something definite or certain
6. the bird has flown informal.
   the person in question has fled or escaped
7. the birds and the bees euphemistic.
   sex and sexual reproduction
8. birds of a feather
   people with the same characteristics, ideas, interests, etc
9. get the bird informal.
   1. to be fired or dismissed
   2. (esp of a public performer) to be hissed at, booed, or derided
10. give someone the bird informal.
    to tell someone rudely to depart; scoff at; hiss
11. kill two birds with one stone
    to accomplish two things with one action
12. like a bird
    without resistance or difficulty
13. a little bird
    a (supposedly) unknown informant

    a little bird told me it was your birthday

14. for the birds or strictly for the birds informal.
    deserving of disdain or contempt; not important

bird

/ bûrd /

1. Any of numerous warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrate animals of the class Aves. Birds have wings for forelimbs, a body covered with feathers, a hard bill covering the jaw, and a four-chambered heart.

Derived Forms

• ˈbirdlike, adjective

Other Words From

• birdless adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of bird¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English byrd, bryd, Old English brid(d) (Northumbrian dialect bird ) “young bird, chick”

Word History and Origins

Origin of bird¹

Old English bridd , of unknown origin

A Closer Look

It is generally believed that birds are descended from dinosaurs and probably evolved from them during the Jurassic Period. While most paleontologists believe that birds evolved from a small dinosaur called the theropod, which in turn evolved from the thecodont, a reptile from the Triassic Period, other paleontologists believe that birds and dinosaurs both evolved from the thecodont. There are some who even consider the bird to be an actual dinosaur. According to this view, the bird is an avian dinosaur, and the older dinosaur a nonavian dinosaur. Although there are variations of thought on the exact evolution of birds, the similarities between birds and dinosaurs are striking and undeniable. Small meat-eating dinosaurs and primitive birds share about twenty characteristics that neither group shares with any other kind of animal; these include tubular bones, the position of the pelvis, the shape of the shoulder blades, a wishbone-shaped collarbone, and the structure of the eggs. Dinosaurs had scales, and birds have modified scales—their feathers—and scaly feet. Some dinosaurs also may have had feathers; a recently discovered fossil of a small dinosaur indicates that it had a featherlike covering. In fact, some primitive fossil birds and small meat-eating dinosaurs are so similar that it is difficult to tell them apart based on their skeletons alone.

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. a little bird, Informal. a secret source of information:

   A little bird told me that today is your birthday.

2. bird in the hand, a thing possessed in fact as opposed to a thing about which one speculates: Also bird in hand.

   A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

3. birds of a feather, people with interests, opinions, or backgrounds in common:

   Birds of a feather flock together.

4. eat like a bird, to eat sparingly:

   She couldn't understand why she failed to lose weight when she was, as she said, eating like a bird.

5. for the birds, Slang. useless or worthless; not to be taken seriously:

   Their opinions on art are for the birds. That pep rally is for the birds.

6. kill two birds with one stone, to achieve two aims with a single effort:

   She killed two birds with one stone by shopping and visiting the museum on the same trip.

7. the birds and the bees, basic information about sex and reproduction:

   It was time to talk to the boy about the birds and the bees.

More idioms and phrases containing bird

• catbird seat
• early bird catches the worm
• eat like a bird
• for the birds
• free as a bird
• kill two birds with one stone
• little bird told me
• naked as a jaybird
• rare bird

Example Sentences

During courtship and even while mating, the birds pull off a similar feat, mimicking the calls and wingbeat noises of many bird species at once, a new study shows.

From Science News

The results strongly suggest that naked mole-rats learn their chirp dialects, he says — much as do people, dolphins and some birds.

From Science News For Students

Descended from birds, the three-eyed, feather-covered creatures lived on a frigid planet with a methane-based atmosphere and gravity 11 times stronger than that on Earth, which, according to 2951 documentation, was now a planet called “Terra.”

From MIT Technology Review

Both farms were put in isolation amid fears of the virus spreading to dogs, cats, cattle and even birds.

From Washington Post

Members, who are grouped by their immediate neighborhoods, use the app to report bird sightings and alert others about missing pets.

From Washington Post

It would be like if after the 40th pipe in Flappy Bird was a scarecrow.

From The Daily Beast

While the chicken today might be the least exotic bird one can think of, it was once a gift that wowed kings.

From The Daily Beast

Exactly when the transition to modern domestic creature took place, for a bird that is wild to this day, is controversial.

From The Daily Beast

Mistletoes on mesquite trees in central Mexico have been linked to a greater abundance of tropical bird species.

From The Daily Beast

He really believed that enumerating the bird population gave understanding.

From The Daily Beast

Fourteen genera, representing about 19 species, of Mallophaga are reported for 20 different species of bird hosts.

From Project Gutenberg

The grass had a delightful fragrance, like new-mown hay, and was neatly wound around the tunnel, like the inside of a bird's-nest.

From Project Gutenberg

Many of his bird neighbors,p. 31 for instance, liked the same things to eat that he did.

From Project Gutenberg

Although the bird people didn't know it, he was anxious to reach his grandchildren.

From Project Gutenberg

And then Jolly Robin would feel ashamed that he had even thought of being so cruel to an infant bird, even if he was a Cowbird.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• fowl