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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Any of various wading birds of the family Ardeidae, having a long neck, long legs, a long pointed bill, and usually white, gray, or bluish-gray plumage.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A long-legged, long-necked, long-billed, slender-bodied wading bird; any bird of the family Ardeidœ, but especially of the subfamily Ardeinœ. Herons, including egrets, bitterns, etc., have the bill cleft below the eyes, naked lores, scaly legs bare above the shank, long toes fitted for perching, a comb on the nail of the middle toe, ample rounded wings, and short tail; the plumage is loose, and often develops graceful flowing plumes, whence the name egret; a constant characteristic is the presence of two or more pairs of powder-down tracts, or patches of greasy pulviplumes. Herons are aquatic, and feed on fish and other creatures which they stalk for and capture by spearing with the sharp bill; they generally nest in trees, and lay two or three greenish, whole-colored, elliptical eggs. (See heronry.) They are nearly cosmopolitan, and include numerous species of several modern genera, such as Ardea, Herodias, Nyctiardea, and Botaurus. The common heron of Europe is Ardea cinerea, represented in America by the great blue heron, A. herodias, 3½ to 4 feet long, and nearly 6 feet in expanse. The great white heron of Florida, A. occidentalis, is still larger; the goliath heron of Africa, A. goliath, is probably the largest of all. White herons or egrets are of medium and small size. Night-herons are smaller, and green herons among the least of all. Bitterns are herons of the subfamily Botaurinæ. Boat-billed herons form the subfamily Cancrominæ. See Ardeidæ, Herodiones, and cuts under Ardea, bittern and egret.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A long-legged, long-necked wading bird of the family Ardeidae.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Zoöl.) Any wading bird of the genus Ardea and allied genera, of the family Ardeidæ. The herons have a long, sharp bill, and long legs and toes, with the claw of the middle toe toothed. The common European heron (Ardea cinerea) is remarkable for its directly ascending flight, and was formerly hunted with the larger falcons.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. Greek mathematician and inventor who devised a way to determine the area of a triangle and who described various mechanical devices (first century)
  2. n. grey or white wading bird with long neck and long legs and (usually) long bill

Etymologies

  1. From Middle English heroun, heiron, from Anglo-Norman heiron, from Old Dutch heigero (compare Middle Dutch heiger), from Proto-Germanic *haigrô (compare Swedish häger), metathesis of *hraigrô (compare Old English hrāgra, Dutch reiger, German Reiher), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kreik-, *(s)kreig- (“to screech, creak”) (compare Welsh crëyr ("heron"), Ancient Greek κρίζω (krízō, "to creak, screech"). (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English, from Old French, of Germanic origin. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “To McEneaney, the heron was a sign — a communication from Eamon — like those dozens of relatives of Trade Center victims say they've received from loved ones.”

    For those touched most by 9/11, a turning point in faith

  • “If you are interested to hear PM Shaikh Hasina's meeting with the army officers ... here are the 3 links ... which is now blocked againby shameless Prime Minister, saying "contents subversive to the state." what a "chagol" as the Army officers called heron thisrecorded conversation between prime minister and army officers.”

    Bangladesh Blocks YouTube After Leak of PM Conversations

  • “The speckled heron, which is nicknamed ‘the skulker’, is said in folklore stories to be of servile origin, and, as its nickname implies, it is the laziest bird of the three species.”

    The History of Animals

  • “The heron was a very special creature inasmuch as it was a solitary bird, quietly stalking its prey, which it speared with its long, curved serrated beak.”

    Black Blade

  • “The heron is the best example of the rational use of a horn.”

    1. General considerations

  • ““A heron is a lovely bird,” Grijpstra said, “and that heron was a beauty.””

    Death of a Hawker

  • “The heron was the incarnation of a war god on the island of Manono.”

    Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago And Long Before

  • “The heron is a frog-catcher, and he will stand very still on his long legs and patiently wait till the frog, thinking him gone, swims near.”

    Stories of California

  • “For the bird was a heron, which is something like a stork that lives on chimneys in a country called Holland.”

    Bully and Bawly No-Tail

  • “In England, although the heron is a native, we rarely seem to see him; while to study him is extremely difficult.”

    A Wanderer in Holland

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‘heron’ has been looked up 2807 times, loved by 3 people, added to 19 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 8.