CANARY BIRD

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does canary bird mean? 

• CANARY BIRD (noun)
  The noun CANARY BIRD has 1 sense:

1. any of several small Old World finches

  Familiarity information: CANARY BIRD used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CANARY BIRD (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of several small Old World finches

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

canary; canary bird

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

finch (any of numerous small songbirds with short stout bills adapted for crushing seeds)

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

common canary; Serinus canaria (native to the Canary Islands and Azores; popular usually yellow cage bird noted for its song)

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

genus Serinus; Serinus (Old World finches; e.g. canaries and serins)

 Context examples 

Georgiana would chatter nonsense to her canary bird by the hour, and take no notice of me.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Among them I remember a double set of pigs' trotters, a huge pin-cushion, half a bushel or so of apples, a pair of jet earrings, some Spanish onions, a box of dominoes, a canary bird and cage, and a leg of pickled pork.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)