Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The common pochard or red-headed duck, Fuligula ferina.
- n. The ruddy duck, Erismatura ribida.
- n. The female scaup duck, Fuligula marila.
Wiktionary
- n. The pochard.
- n. The ruddy duck.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The pochard; -- called also
dunair , anddunker , ordun-curre . - n. An American duck; the ruddy duck.
Etymologies
- dun + bird, from its colour. (Wiktionary)
Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘dunbird’.
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Duck!
If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, or quacks like a duck, then you should probably list it here.
duck, Duck, turducken, duckling, duck tape, Mallard, rubber duckie, Daffy Duck, Donald Duck, lame duck, ducky, ducks and 95 more...
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Bird Wirds: Sundry Nicknames
A list of birders' "shorthand" names, traditional nicknames, non-English names, and obsolete names for feathered creatures worldwide.
Interesting blog entry here on naming U.S. birds.welsh ambassador, goatsucker, french magpie, timberdoodle, butterbutt, popinjay, logcock, old cranky, long john, sprog, butterbum, wedgie and 697 more...
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2008 Wordlist
Hopefully, I'll be using this site for more than one year. It will be fun then to look back and see what new words I found worthy of notice in any given year.
All words spotted in 2008...longanimity, permalancer, breeder, biodegradable, handicapable, gender-neutral, translator, interpreter, translation, interpreting, kleptocracy, fanfiction and 1598 more...
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Just ducky
bufflehead, merganser, canvasback, muscovy, smew, pochard, shoveler, goosander, teal, seaduck, sheldrake, mallard and 66 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for dunbird.
reesetee Oh, don't sell yourself short--you've reminded me of a slew of terms that were missing from my "bird nicknames" list. I certainly didn't intend to correct you per se, just to ask where you might have seen it as reference to females only. This kind of thing is inordinately interesting to me, you see. :-)
Anyway, welcome to another lister! Jan 6, 2009
hernesheir To call the sole reference for dunbird I used "general" would probably be quite kind. Your knowledge of the term's usage, reesetee, is better than mine. I've never seen a pochard, and it has been since 1985 since I've seen a bluebill (yes, I have a nascent birding life-list where I keep records of such things). Thanks for guiding me towards honesty and thoroughness! Jan 6, 2009
reesetee Sure, that makes sense. All I'm saying, though, is that I've never heard dunbird used to refer specifically to female pochards.
No matter--it's on my list either way, and it reminded me of the many other nicknames for the Ruddy Duck. :-) Jan 6, 2009
chained_bear Perhaps because "dun" also means brown or dull-colored, and females are often less brightly colored than males?
*notes that this is not true of bears* Jan 6, 2009
reesetee Just the female? I've only ever heard it as a general nickname for the pochard or Ruddy Duck (male and female). Jan 6, 2009
hernesheir The female pochard is called a dunbird. Jan 6, 2009