redbird

American  

[red-burd] / ˈrɛdˌbɜrd /

noun

1. any of various birds having red plumage, especially the northern cardinal.

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Etymology

Origin of redbird

First recorded in 1660–70; red ¹ + bird

Example Sentences

Watching with delight in spring as a male redbird presents his mate with an edible demonstration of his “fitness as a partner,” she comments, “In the avian world, a grub is an engagement ring.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 6, 2024

I wanted to roll it in my palm like the head of a small redbird until it sang to me.

From The New Yorker • Dec. 12, 2016

In her brown cloth hat the wings of a redbird gleamed—the feathers and her lips having all there was of bright color about her; for her face was singularly colorless for so young a girl.

From That Girl Montana by Ryan, Marah Ellis

The redbird can never be reconciled to confinement; he is of the forest; the wildness of his peculiar note indicates the restlessness of his nature.

From The House An Episode in the Lives of Reuben Baker, Astronomer, and of His Wife, Alice by Field, Eugene

The cardinal grossbeak, or Virginia redbird, is quite common in the same localities, though more inclined to seek the woods.

From Wake-Robin by Burroughs, John