SPARROW

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does sparrow mean? 

• SPARROW (noun)
  The noun SPARROW has 2 senses:

1. any of several small dull-colored singing birds feeding on seeds or insects

2. small brownish European songbird

  Familiarity information: SPARROW used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPARROW (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of several small dull-colored singing birds feeding on seeds or insects

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

sparrow; true sparrow

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

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)

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

English sparrow; house sparrow; Passer domesticus (small hardy brown-and-grey bird native to Europe)

Passer montanus; tree sparrow (Eurasian sparrow smaller than the house sparrow)

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

family Passeridae; Passeridae (true sparrows: Old world birds formerly considered weaverbirds)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Small brownish European songbird

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

dunnock; hedge sparrow; Prunella modularis; sparrow

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

accentor (small sparrow-like songbird of mountainous regions of Eurasia)

 Context examples 

“Not wretch enough yet!” said the sparrow; “thy cruelty shall cost thee thy life yet!” and away she flew.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

"The little Durands were there, I conclude," said she, "with their mouths open to catch the music, like unfledged sparrows ready to be fed. They never miss a concert."

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

The real God taketh heed lest a sparrow fall; but the God created from human vanity sees no difference between an eagle and a sparrow.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

For example, a storm could cause mortality for a third of saltmarsh sparrows and clapper rails in one year, but it would be unlikely that their populations would decrease significantly over time.

(Coastal birds can weather the storm, but not the sea, National Science Foundation)

He placed his pack on the ground and stalked them as a cat stalks a sparrow.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

I found that the sparrow uttered none but harsh notes, whilst those of the blackbird and thrush were sweet and enticing.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

It was dreadful, but she would have done it if the flock of draggle-tailed sparrows on the hedge had been human beings, for she was very far gone indeed, and quite regardless of everything but her own happiness.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

But being afraid the boy might owe me a spite, and well remembering how mischievous all children among us naturally are to sparrows, rabbits, young kittens, and puppy dogs, I fell on my knees, and pointing to the boy, made my master to understand, as well as I could, that I desired his son might be pardoned.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

When we came, at last, within a stage of London, and passed the veritable Salem House where Mr. Creakle had laid about him with a heavy hand, I would have given all I had, for lawful permission to get down and thrash him, and let all the boys out like so many caged sparrows.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The water stood in my eyes to hear this avowal of his dependence; just as if a royal eagle, chained to a perch, should be forced to entreat a sparrow to become its purveyor.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)