KINGFISHER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does kingfisher mean? 

• KINGFISHER (noun)
  The noun KINGFISHER has 1 sense:

1. nonpasserine large-headed bird with a short tail and long sharp bill; usually crested and bright-colored; feed mostly on fish

  Familiarity information: KINGFISHER used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• KINGFISHER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Nonpasserine large-headed bird with a short tail and long sharp bill; usually crested and bright-colored; feed mostly on fish

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

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

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

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

Alcedo atthis; Eurasian kingfisher (small kingfisher with greenish-blue and orange plumage)

belted kingfisher; Ceryle alcyon (greyish-blue North American kingfisher with a chestnut band on its chest)

Dacelo gigas; kookaburra; laughing jackass (Australian kingfisher having a loud cackling cry)

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

Alcedinidae; family Alcedinidae (kingfishers)

 Context examples 

Now and again a peaty amber colored stream rippled across their way, with ferny over-grown banks, where the blue kingfisher flitted busily from side to side, or the gray and pensive heron, swollen with trout and dignity, stood ankle-deep among the sedges.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)