canary

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“
In Bernstein's eyes, the canary is the U.S. mortgage market, but the silent killer of loose credit was an international epidemic.

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Definitions (22)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. noun A small finch (Serinus canaria) native to the Canary Islands that is greenish to yellow and has long been bred as a cage bird.
  2. noun Slang A woman singer.
  3. noun Slang An informer; a stool pigeon.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (9)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

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Examples (50)

  • You're not stretching truth I take it the canary was a laboratory case. —  177 - The Angry Canary
  • Professor Summerlee had just begun to chirrup like a canary, and Lord John to get to the climax of his story, when the train drew up at Jarvis Brook, which had been given us as the station for Rotherfield And there was Challenger to meet us. —  The First Men In The Moon
  • SENSING (Strong) The bird is a canary, and it only wobbles with asphyxia. —  Equal and Opposite
  • In Bernstein's eyes, the canary is the U.S. mortgage market, but the silent killer of loose credit was an international epidemic. —  CNN.com
  • Giving new meaning to the term '' sing like a canary, '' Katharine had Internet message boards ablaze not necessarily because of her —  EW.com: Today's Latest Headlines
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This word has been looked up 107 times.

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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French canari, from Spanish canario, of the Canary Islands, from (Islas) Canarias, Canary (Islands), from Late Latin Canāriae (Īnsulae), (islands) of dogs, from Latin canārius, pertaining to dogs, canine, from canis, dog; see kwon- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Spanish Portuguese canario (dance and bird) = French canari (bird), canarie (dance); cf. German kanarienvogel, canary-bird; named with reference to the Canary islands, which take their name from Gran Canaria, one of the principal islands of the group, Latin Canaria insula, so called because of its large dogs, canaria being feminine of canarius, pertaining to dogs, from canis, adjective dog: see Canis.
  2. from canary, n., 2.
 

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/kəˈneɪri/
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