Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of various warm-blooded, egg-laying, feathered vertebrates of the class Aves, having forelimbs modified to form wings.
- n. Such an animal hunted as game.
- n. Such an animal, especially a chicken or turkey, used as food: put the bird in the oven.
- n. See clay pigeon.
- n. Sports See shuttlecock.
- n. Slang A rocket, guided missile, satellite, or airplane.
- n. Slang A person, especially one who is odd or remarkable: a sly old bird.
- n. Chiefly British Slang A young woman.
- n. Slang A loud sound expressing disapproval; a raspberry.
- n. Slang Discharge from employment: lost a big sale and nearly got the bird.
- n. An obscene gesture of anger, defiance, or derision made by pointing or jabbing the middle finger upward.
- v. To observe and identify birds in their natural surroundings.
- v. To trap, shoot, or catch birds.
- idiom. for the birds Objectionable or worthless.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The young of any fowl.
- n. A feathered vertebrate animal of the class Aves, frequently included with reptiles in a superclass Sauropsida, but distinguished by having warm blood, by being covered with feathers, and by having the fore limbs so modified as to form wings. See Aves.
- n. Any small feathered game, as a partridge, quail, snipe, or woodcock, as distinguished from water-fowl, etc.
- n. In astronomy, a southern constellation. See Apus, 1.
- To catch birds; go bird-shooting or fowling.
- Hence To look for plunder; thieve.
- n. A maiden; a girl; a young woman.
- n. [In this, as in other modern instances, the word is archaic, and is probably associated with bird as a term of endearment.]
Wiktionary
- n. A member of the class of animals Aves in the phylum Chordata, characterized by being warm-blooded, having feathers and wings usually capable of flight, and laying eggs.
- n. UK, US, slang A girl or woman considered sexually attractive, as used by a man.
- n. slang An airplane.
- v. To observe or identify wild birds in their natural environment
- v. To catch or shoot birds.
- v. figuratively To seek for game or plunder; to thieve.
- n. A prison sentence.
- n. The vulgar hand gesture in which the middle finger is extended.
- n. A penis.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Orig., a chicken; the young of a fowl; a young eaglet; a nestling; and hence, a feathered flying animal (see 2).
- n. (Zoöl.) A warm-blooded, feathered vertebrate provided with wings. See Aves.
- n. Specifically, among sportsmen, a game bird.
- n. Fig.: A girl; a maiden.
- v. To catch or shoot birds.
- v. rare Hence: To seek for game or plunder; to thieve.
- v. to watch birds, especially in their natural habitats, for enjoyment; to birdwatch.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a cry or noise made to express displeasure or contempt
- n. informal terms for a (young) woman
- n. warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings
- n. badminton equipment consisting of a ball of cork or rubber with a crown of feathers
- n. the flesh of a bird or fowl (wild or domestic) used as food
- v. watch and study birds in their natural habitat
Etymologies
- From Middle English, from Old English bird, brid, bridd ("young bird, chick"), of uncertain origin and relation. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old English brid, young bird. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“A bird, no, a _bird_ circled above him, a stark silhouette against the blue sky, with powerful wings of such size as Milleus had never seen.”
“A crow is a large black bird:" -- a large, _black -- bird_.”
“To my mind, the term bird refuge didn't contain any ambiguity.”
“It is more or less depending on what you call a bird, which is somewhat an arbitrary procedure," said Dr Xu.”
“It really depends on the range the bird is at how high up I aim.”
“A-well-a bird, bird, bird, well the bird is the word”
“Up until this point I had done no calling. (here's a tip never call if the bird is already coming your way) At this point I gave a single cluck with the always in my mouth diaphram call.”
What's your best Turkey hunting story? I'll tell one tomorrow.
“The piece will consist of some 350 carved and painted Chinese characters for the word "bird" in various historical scripts—all hung from the ceiling of the Morgan's soaring entry court in a cloudlike cluster that will rise dramatically from the floor to the top of a 50-foot glass wall.”
The Wall Street Journal: China's Xu Bing Gives Flight To Words at the Morgan
“I top the hill as the bird is already flaring, coming in getting the skids to about two ft of the ground.”
“And all scouts have what they called bird dogs, who are not scouts per se, but they knew scouts in the different organizations.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘bird’.
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Visuals
A list of words which yield surprising, beautiful, amusing, or otherwise noteworthy images here on Wordnik.
photochrom, fufluns, thank you, cool l..., postcard, picture postcard, cricket, physiological ill..., Gakuryū Ishii, ametropia, One Froggy Evening, rhodopsin, Santiago Calatrava and 636 more...
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Up In The Air @ Wordnik
List of words, terms, and phrases pertaining to or referencing anything that lives, traverses, moves in, uses, or otherwise occupies the space above the ground we walk on. Words and phrases contain...
aeroallergen, aerial, aerial mapping, aerial root, aerobe, aerobiology, aerobioscope, aelophilous, anemotropism, anemoclastic, anafront, antitrades and 273 more...
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Words that are also movies
Unabashedly stolen from a comment made by courier12.
vertigo, serendipity, casablanca, psycho, jaws, fantasia, stagecoach, network, rocky, giant, platoon, unforgiven and 285 more...
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RELI - Genesis
Protagonists and relevant words in the Book of Creation (Source: King James Bible)
Laban, circumcise, beget, Esau, Rebekah, speckle, Sodom, Pharaoh, Canaanite, Canaan, Jacob, Lot and 1286 more...
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animals (1 syllable)
A list of common animal names. Keep the list to 1 syllable words.No scientific names. No proper names like 'Fluffy' the elephant.Insects and other creatures (even ficticious) are welcome!You can ...
dog, cat, bear, bee, ass, ape, horse, squid, bug, hare, hawk, pig and 138 more...
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birds
birds with singular names from
at least 9 English dictionariesaasvogel, aberdevine, accentor, accipiter, aepyornis, agami, albatross, alcatras, alcid, alcidine, amadavat, amokura and 1056 more...
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FUN - Beatles song titles
Typical words from Beatles song titles. Can you recreate the titles?
(Grammatical words have been omitted)polythene, Sun King, rhythm and blues, taxman, tripper, monkey business, mailman, matchbox, rock and roll, ooh, blue jay, reprise and 388 more...
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You animal!
Names of animals that are also used to describe kinds of people. Nouns only, preferably single word.
For a related list, see sionnach's beastly verbs.rabbit, shark, hog, pussycat, bear, bull, skunk, hawk, wildcat, buck, slug, heifer and 112 more...
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Nature and Environment
north, east, west, mountain, sea, beach, river, northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest, island and 205 more...
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"Queen's" English
Collection of words from Old Blighty
sorted, sketchy, mate, oi, innit, ol' chum, brilliant, wicked, arse, bloody, bollocks, wanker and 12 more...
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Animal bipes implume
Specific use of the word bird to describe those featherless bipeds with the broad nails. (From Plato's description of man. See chicken.)
bird, gallows bird, yard bird, jailbird, bird colonel, bird of passage, birdbrain, birdman, firebird, lovebird, Birdman of Alcatraz, railbird and 8 more...
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Stuffie: Love
Love and all that stuff.
puppy, triangle, tough, first, in the third degree, handles, endless, bite, shack, bird, potion, tainted and 29 more...
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Whooping Crane
Words for the Whooping Crane Alphabet book
ultralight, patuxent, maryland, wisconsin, florida, people, chick, juvenile, adult, swamp monster, teach, learn and 48 more...
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Birds of Many Linguistic Feathers
"Bird" in a gazillion languages.
ushag, uccello, oiseau, ocell, 鸟, 鳥, vogel, πουλί, 새, pássaro, птица, pájaro and 60 more...
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Words that start with B
butterfly, brain, broom, break, brick, brilliant, bubbles, balloons, bananas, bow, book, bunny and 37 more...
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animals
horse, bear, fish, bull, pig, donkey, elephant, cow, tortoise, cat, sheep, dog and 14 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for bird.

tbtabby Hollywood slang for a satellite. Aug 26, 2009
yarb General etymological astonishment on birdo. Jun 18, 2009
sarra When we were at 6th form we used to refer to our boyfriends as our birds. (from a talkboard — surprised and pleased me) Mar 3, 2009
seanahan I also enjoy when the Brits use this term to refer to a girl. Sep 18, 2007
uselessness Apparently it's the female equivalent of bloke. Sep 15, 2007
born2badored Its the word Dec 7, 2006