Definitions
Wiktionary
- n. Any of the three species, and several subspecies, of large, mainly black, predatory passerine birds in the genus Strepera, of the family Artamidae, endemic to Australia.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. any of several bluish black fruit-eating birds of Australia of the genus Strepera having a bell-like call.
WordNet 3.0
- n. bluish black fruit-eating bird with a bell-like call
Etymologies
- Probably from Yagara garrawaŋ, ultimately onomatopoeic. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“But he didn't feel like shooting the currawong that was perched just a few feet away from him.”
“A black currawong perched on it was examining him with its yellow eyes, and Billy remembered the hole in the chicken wire and the lovely swirl of black feathers and fluffy gray down around the rent fence.”
“The Lord Howe Island currawong Strepera graculina crissalis is relatively common in the southern mountains, with lesser number found in the north.”
“Twenty-one species of native birds regularly utilize rainforest habitat, including the grey goshawk (Accipiter novaehollandiae), brown scrubwren (Sericornis humilis), and black currawong (Strepera fulignosa).”
“There are four extant endemic landbirds, including two species and two subspecies: the relatively abundant Lord Howe white-eye (Zosterops tephropleurus), the Lord Howe Island woodhen, Lord Howe Island golden whistler (Pachycephala pectoralis contempta), and the Lord Howe Island currawong (Strepera graculina crissalis).”
“It sounds like a historic farming implement 'Father was wielding the currawong while mother churned the goat's milk' - any chance of a pic?”
“cuppa: cup of tea currawong: ravenlike bird dag: goofy person daks: trousers dam: pool, pond, or water hole”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘currawong’.
-
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...
-
Still More Bird Wirds
A work in progress....Birds from around the world (other than endemic to North America).
barbet, hornbill, trogon, bee-eater, bristlehead, wren-babbler, stubtail, blackeye, bush warbler, cassowary, bowerbird, bird-of-paradise and 722 more...
-
Peter Carey's Illywhacker
Culling my "Learned (or Encountered) in Reading" list. Thanks for the idea, yarb.
tinea, mingy, blanco, bitzer, mallee fowl, yabbies, coir, bluey, stoush, barney, currawong, providore and 43 more...
-
Strewth Mate, or, The Antipodean Anhang
Aussie stuff that doesn't really belong in my other lists.
The name is a discreet tribute to Charles Cudworth and his essay: "Ye Olde Spuriosity Shoppe, or, Put it in the Anhang", whi...wagga wagga, woy woy, walla walla, wee waa, wollongong, cooee, lairy, australele, kafoops, bewdiful, nature strip, yonks and 42 more...
-
left-eyed flounders and other stretches
created to break clichés and cause temporary floundering
bothidae, flatfish, parabolic parables, tonguefish, after-image, anaglyph, Fotheringhay, aegilops, asquint, chicane, exedra, piñon jay and 66 more...
-
Best birds
bufflehead, iiwi, timberdoodle, kiskadee, hootamaganzy, beccaccia, hookumpake, kagu, checkerbelly, gallirex, pluvian, tinamou and 23 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for currawong.
fbharjo What wongs does it cure? Sep 10, 2011
chained_bear "... marked with a black eye that was more yellow than black and from this spectacular bed of bruised flesh the eye itself, sand-irritated, bloodshot, as wild as a currawong's, stared out at a landscape in which the tops of fences protruded from windswept sand."
—Peter Carey, Illywhacker, 380–381 Apr 17, 2009