chough

• But for that dead rascal at our feet I could beyond a doubt have plucked him like a chough, and here I was, still penniless Master Wheatman, I am not a man of many words, but what I say I stand by. —  The Yeoman Adventurer
• And Northumbrians hewed he ere the greed of the chough was appeased. ' —  The Sagas of Olaf Tryggvason and of Harald The Tyrant (Harald Haardraade)
• Lecturing on birds, he strutted like the chough, made himself wings like the swallow; he was for the moment a cat, when he explained (not —  The Life of John Ruskin
• Thus saith Hallfrod the Troublous-skald The unsparing young King plundered the Englishmen The feeder of spear-showers made murder in Northumbria The war-loving feeder of wolves laid waste to Scotia The giver of gold fared with up-lifted sword in Man The bearer of the elm-bow brought death to the hosts Of the Isle of Erin, for fame yearned the lord Four winters did the King smite the dwellers in Wales And Northumbrians hewed he ere the greed of the chough was appeased Four winters did Olaf Tryggvason fare on viking cruises from the time of his leaving Wendland even until his coming to the Isles of Scilly Now when Olaf Tryggvason was lying off the Isles of Scilly he heard tell that there was a soothsayer thereon, and that he foretold the future and spake of things not yet come to pass, and many folk believed that things ofttimes happened according as this man had spoken. —  The Sagas of Olaf Tryggvason and of Harald The Tyrant (Harald Haardraade)
• But for that dead rascal at our feet I could beyond a doubt have plucked him like a chough, and here I was, still penniless. —  The Yeoman Adventurer

Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms