wagtail

American  

[wag-teyl] / ˈwægˌteɪl /

noun

1. any of numerous small, chiefly Old World birds of the family Motacillidae, having a slender body with a long, narrow tail tails that is habitually wagged up and down.

2. any of several similar birds, as the water thrushes of the genus Seiurus.

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wagtail British  

/ ˈwæɡˌteɪl /

noun

1. any of various passerine songbirds of the genera Motacilla and Dendronanthus, of Eurasia and Africa, having a very long tail that wags when the bird walks: family Motacillidae

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Etymology

Origin of wagtail

First recorded in 1500–10; wag + tail ¹

Example Sentences

“The ballerina gialla,” Pira said, is the Italian name for the grey wagtail.

From Washington Post • May 13, 2022

Amid these increasingly threatened habitats dwell elk and bison, too, as well as smaller creatures, from fox, marmot, and minx to mountain wagtail, two-tailed owl, and golden eagle.

From Slate • Oct. 31, 2016

It may be of interest to record that in walking through St. James's Park today I noticed a grey wagtail.

From Time Magazine Archive

Von Frisch reported that when one of Yugoslavia's Carniolan bees does her "wagtail dance." shaking her abdomen while walking a figure eight, it means that food is more than 300 ft. away.

From Time Magazine Archive

Beneath, where there are a few inches of sand beside the water, a wagtail comes now and then; but the robin does not like the intrusion, and drives him away.

From The Hills and the Vale by Jefferies, Richard