blackbird

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various New World birds of the family Icteridae, such as the grackle or red-winged blackbird, the male of which has black or predominantly black plumage.
2. n. An Old World songbird (Turdus merula), the male of which is black with a yellow bill. Also called merle¹.
3. n. Australian A South Sea Islander kidnapped and sold into slavery in Australia; a Kanaka.
4. v. Australian To kidnap (a South Sea Islander) and sell into slavery.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The English name of a species of thrush, Merula merula, Turdus merula, or Merula vulgaris, common throughout Europe. It is larger than the common or song thrush; the male is wholly black, except the bill and the orbits of the eyes, which are yellow; the female is dark rusty-brown. The male has a fine, rich, mellow note, but its song has little compass or variety. Also called merle and ouzel.
2. n. In America, a bird of the family Icteridæ (which see). These birds have no relation to the European blackbird, but are nearer the old-world starlings. There are very many species of the family, to several of which, as the bobolink, the oriole, and the meadow-lark, the term blackbird is not specifically applied. The leading species are the several crow-blackbirds, of the genera Quiscalus and Scolecophagus, and the marsh-blackbirds, Agelæus and Xanthocephalus. The common crow-blackbird is Q. purpureus; the common red-winged marsh-blackbird, A.phæniceus; the yellow-headed blackbird, X. icterocephalus. See cut under Agelæinæ.
3. n. In the West Indies, the ani, Crotophaga ani, of the family Cuculidæ, or cuckoos; the savanna-blackbird. See cut under ani.
4. n. A cant term on the coast of Africa for a slave.
5. n. A native of the islands of Torres Strait.

Wiktionary

1. n. A (common) true thrush, Turdus merula, found in woods and gardens over much of Eurasia, and introduced elsewhere.
2. n. A variety of New World birds of the family Icteridae (26 species of icterid bird).

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Zoöl.) In England, a species of thrush (Turdus merula), a singing bird with a fin note; the merle. In America the name is given to several birds, as the Quiscalus versicolor, or crow blackbird; the Agelæus phœniceus, or red-winged blackbird; the cowbird; the rusty grackle, etc. See redwing.
2. n. Cant, pejorative Among slavers and pirates, a negro or Polynesian.
3. n. Australia, pejorative A native of any of the islands near Queensland; -- called also Kanaka.
4. v. colloq. to engage in the slave trade.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. common black European thrush
2. n. any bird of the family Icteridae whose male is black or predominantly black