widow bird

American  

noun

1. whydah.

---

widow bird British  

noun

1. another name for whydah

---

Etymology

Origin of widow bird

1765–75; translation of New Latin Vidua, name of the genus ( Latin: widow ). See whydah

Example Sentences

Or you could jump in the air, like a male widow bird.

From The Guardian • Jul. 20, 2013

The male long-tailed widow bird uses its tail feathers to attract females.

From National Geographic

Slighty longer, with a tail four times its body length, is the male long-tailed widow bird.

From National Geographic

A widow bird sate mourning for her Love Upon a wintry bough; The frozen wind crept on above, The freezing stream below.

From The Golden Treasury Of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language by Palgrave, Francis Turner

"Winter" does better, for it has a freezing stream, a mill-wheel, and a "widow bird."

From Contemporary American Composers Being a Study of the Music of This Country, Its Present Conditions and Its Future, with Critical Estimates and Biographies of the Principal Living Composers; and an Abundance of Portraits, Fac-simile Musical Autographs, and Compositions by Hughes, Rupert