BIRD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does bird mean? 

• BIRD (noun)
  The noun BIRD has 5 senses:

1. warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings

2. the flesh of a bird or fowl (wild or domestic) used as food

3. informal terms for a (young) woman

4. a cry or noise made to express displeasure or contempt

5. badminton equipment consisting of a ball of cork or rubber with a crown of feathers

  Familiarity information: BIRD used as a noun is common.

• BIRD (verb)
  The verb BIRD has 1 sense:

1. watch and study birds in their natural habitat

  Familiarity information: BIRD used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BIRD (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("bird" is a kind of...):

craniate; vertebrate (animals having a bony or cartilaginous skeleton with a segmented spinal column and a large brain enclosed in a skull or cranium)

Meronyms (parts of "bird"):

pennon; pinion (wing of a bird)

bird; fowl (the flesh of a bird or fowl (wild or domestic) used as food)

syrinx (the vocal organ of a bird)

preen gland; uropygial gland (oil-secreting gland situated at the base of the tail in most birds)

air sac (any of the membranous air-filled extensions of the lungs of birds)

croup; croupe; hindquarters; rump (the part of an animal that corresponds to the human buttocks)

uropygium (posterior part of a bird's body from which the tail feathers grow)

bird's foot (the foot of a bird)

wing (a movable organ for flying (one of a pair))

feather; plumage; plume (the light horny waterproof structure forming the external covering of birds)

furcula (a forked bone formed by the fusion of the clavicles of most birds)

beak; bill; neb; nib; pecker (horny projecting mouth of a bird)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bird"):

dickey-bird; dickeybird; dicky-bird; dickybird (small bird; adults talking to children sometimes use these words to refer to small birds)

twitterer (a bird that twitters)

aquatic bird (wading and swimming and diving birds of either fresh or salt water)

trogon (forest bird of warm regions of the New World having brilliant lustrous plumage and long tails)

piciform bird (any of numerous nonpasserine insectivorous climbing birds usually having strong bills for boring wood)

caprimulgiform bird (long-winged nonpasserine birds)

apodiform bird (nonpasserine bird having long wings and weak feet; spends much of its time in flight)

coraciiform bird (chiefly short-legged arboreal nonpasserine birds that nest in holes)

cuculiform bird (birds having zygodactyl feet (except for the touracos))

parrot (usually brightly colored zygodactyl tropical birds with short hooked beaks and the ability to mimic sounds)

gallinacean; gallinaceous bird (heavy-bodied largely ground-feeding domestic or game birds)

bird of prey; raptor; raptorial bird (any of numerous carnivorous birds that hunt and kill other animals)

nonpasserine bird (chiefly arboreal birds especially of the order Coraciiformes)

passeriform bird; passerine (perching birds mostly small and living near the ground with feet having 4 toes arranged to allow for gripping the perch; most are songbirds; hatchlings are helpless)

flightless bird; ratite; ratite bird (flightless birds having flat breastbones lacking a keel for attachment of flight muscles: ostriches; cassowaries; emus; moas; rheas; kiwis; elephant birds)

cock (adult male bird)

hen (adult female bird)

nester (a bird that has built (or is building) a nest)

night bird (any bird associated with night: owl; nightingale; nighthawk; etc)

bird of passage (any bird that migrates seasonally)

protoavis (most primitive avian type known; extinct bird of the Triassic having bird-like jaw and hollow limbs and breastbone with dinosaur-like tail and hind limbs)

archaeopteryx; Archaeopteryx lithographica; archeopteryx (extinct primitive toothed bird of the Jurassic period having a long feathered tail and hollow bones; usually considered the most primitive of all birds)

Sinornis (sparrow-sized fossil bird of the Jurassic period to the Cretaceous period having a keeled breastbone and vestigial tail; found in China; considered possibly the second most primitive of all birds)

Ibero-mesornis (sparrow-sized fossil bird of the Cretaceous period having a vestigial tail; found in Spain; considered possibly the third most primitive of all birds)

archaeornis (extinct primitive toothed bird with a long feathered tail and three free clawed digits on each wing)

carinate; carinate bird; flying bird (birds having keeled breastbones for attachment of flight muscles)

Holonyms ("bird" is a member of...):

Aves; class Aves ((ornithology) the class of birds)

flock (a group of birds)

Derivation:

bird (watch and study birds in their natural habitat)

Domain member category:

chirpy ((birds or insects) characterized by or tending to chirp)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The flesh of a bird or fowl (wild or domestic) used as food

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

bird; fowl

Hypernyms ("bird" is a kind of...):

meat (the flesh of animals (including fishes and birds and snails) used as food)

Meronyms (parts of "bird"):

second joint; thigh (the upper joint of the leg of a fowl)

dark meat (the flesh of the legs of fowl used as food)

parson's nose; pope's nose (the tail of a dressed fowl)

oyster (a small muscle on each side of the back of a fowl)

giblet; giblets (edible viscera of a fowl)

wing (the wing of a fowl)

drumstick (the lower joint of the leg of a fowl)

wishbone; wishing bone (the furcula of a domestic fowl)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bird"):

poultry (flesh of chickens or turkeys or ducks or geese raised for food)

wildfowl (flesh of any of a number of wild game birds suitable for food)

Holonyms ("bird" is a part of...):

bird (warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Informal terms for a (young) woman

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

bird; chick; dame; doll; skirt; wench

Hypernyms ("bird" is a kind of...):

fille; girl; miss; missy; young lady; young woman (a young female)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A cry or noise made to express displeasure or contempt

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

bird; boo; Bronx cheer; hiss; hoot; raspberry; razz; razzing; snort

Hypernyms ("bird" is a kind of...):

call; cry; outcry; shout; vociferation; yell (a loud utterance; often in protest or opposition)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Badminton equipment consisting of a ball of cork or rubber with a crown of feathers

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

bird; birdie; shuttle; shuttlecock

Hypernyms ("bird" is a kind of...):

badminton equipment (equipment for playing the game of badminton)

• BIRD (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Watch and study birds in their natural habitat

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

bird; birdwatch

Hypernyms (to "bird" is one way to...):

observe (watch attentively)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

In the summer they like to go out and bird

Derivation:

bird (warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings)

birder (a person who identifies and studies birds in their natural habitats)

 Context examples 

From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that the cheetah was indeed at liberty.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A negative-stranded RNA virus that infects birds.

(Newcastle disease virus, NCI Thesaurus)

His head was sunk upon his breast, and he looked from my point of view like a strange, lank bird, with dull grey plumage and a black top-knot.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A bird virus that is being studied in the treatment of cancer.

(NDV, NCI Dictionary)

And as it was with birds, so had it been with everything.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

They are short-lived cells resembling bursa-derived lymphocytes of birds in their production of immunoglobulin upon appropriate stimulation.

(Murine B-Lymphocytes, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

He did every thing best in the world; and she was sure he would kill more birds on the first of September, than any body else in the country.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The thick-walld muscular pouch, part of the digestive system of birds, insects and invertebrates, which is responsible for digestion.

(Gizzard, NCI Thesaurus)

An acute febrile, contagious, viral disease of birds caused by a Paramyxovirus (NEWCASTLE DISEASE VIRUS).

(Newcastle Disease, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

A canary’s cage was hanging in the window, and its aim seems to have been to get at the bird.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)