Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of, relating to, or characteristic of birds.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Of or pertaining to Aves, or birds; ornithic.
- n. A member of the class Aves; a bird: as, “this ancient avian,” Coues.
Wiktionary
- adj. Characteristic of or pertaining to, birds, bird-like or flying creatures.
- n. A bird.
- n. A bird-like or flying creature.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Of or instrument to birds.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. pertaining to or characteristic of birds
Etymologies
- From Latin avis, bird; see awi- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“There†™ s even an avian from a gaseous tiny-giant.”
365 tomorrows » 2008 » January : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day
“What we call avian flu, the virus that struck in Asia in 2003, is incredibly deadly but not too contagious; most of the people killed were those who had direct contact with animals.”
“For avian-flu watchers, the pandemic of 1918 shows what a new outbreak could mean for the world, but a study published by the National Academy of Sciences suggests that it may also offer lessons on how to contain avian flu.”
“Meanwhile, the other China remains uncooperative in avian flu surveillance. posted by sydney on”
“(Except, of course, during quarantines in avian-flu season.)”
“However, additional abnormalities we discovered in avian flu patients — including fluid in the space surrounding the lungs, enlarged lymph nodes and cavities forming in the lung tissue-were absent in patients with SARS.”
“This is more than the latest in avian intelligence gathering.”
“A scholar’s 31-year-experiment in avian learning had spectacular results”
“In the studies, researchers created mutations in the H5N1 virus—known as avian influenza or bird flu—that made it highly transmissible between lab animals.”
“Bird flu, also known as avian influenza, remains a threat primarily to poultry, but scientists warn that the H5N1 virus could mutate into a strain that could be transmitted between humans, resulting in a possible global pandemic.”
The Wall Street Journal: Hong Kong Resumes Live Poultry Imports
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘avian’.
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Animal Descriptors
Do any of your friends eat like a pig? Sly like a fox? Fast as a cheetah? Maybe these words describe them better
erinaceous, alaudine, phocine, porcine, accipritine, acarine, alopecoid, anatine, anguine, anopheline, apian, arietine and 80 more...
yrivd The definition says it's an adjective, but four of the first five examples show it being used as a noun. Mar 11, 2010