Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of various tropical Old World birds of the family Bucerotidae, having a very large bill often surmounted by an enlarged protuberance at the base.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A large non-passerine bird of the family Bucerotidæ: so called from the horny casque, in some cases of enormous size, which surmounts the bill. The bill is itself very large, like that of a toucan, on which account the hornbills have been associated with the toucans; they must be classed, however, with the kingfishers and hoopoes, notwithstanding the slightness of their superficial resemblance to these birds. There are two groups of hornbills, the tree-hornbills and ground-hornbills. The latter, which constitute the genus Bucorvus, have the casque quite hollow and in some cases open in front. One of the largest of the tree-hornbills is the rhinoceros hornbill, Buceros rhinoceros, having a bill nearly a foot in length, and surmounted by a horn nearly as large. It inhabits Sumatra. The concave-casqued hornbill of Asia is B. bicornis. A Philippine species is B. hydrocorax. African hornbills are chiefly of the genera Tockus, as T. erythrorhynchus, and Bycanistes, as B. buccinator; the ground-hornbills are also exclusively African. All these singular birds are for the most part frugivorous, and some of them are known to have the curious habit of imprisoning the female in the hole in which she lays her eggs, by stopping up the entrance, leaving room only to pass in food to her during her confinement.
Wiktionary
- n. Any of various birds of the family Bucerotidae, with bills resembling a cow's horn. Many species have a casque above the bill, and many imprison their young in a tree.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Any bird of the family
Bucerotidæ , of which about sixty species are known, belonging to numerous genera. They inhabit the tropical parts of Asia, Africa, and the East Indies, and are remarkable for having a more or less horn-like protuberance, which is usually large and hollow and is situated on the upper side of the beak. The size of the hornbill varies from that of a pigeon to that of a raven, or even larger. They feed chiefly upon fruit, but some species eat dead animals.
WordNet 3.0
- n. bird of tropical Africa and Asia having a very large bill surmounted by a bony protuberance; related to kingfishers
Examples
“In terms of casque morphology, the most strongly modified hornbill is the Helmeted hornbill Rhinoplax vigil, a territorial fig specialist of SE Asia.”
“There is an African bird called the hornbill, whose habits are in some respects a model.”
“[124] This bird, often called a "hornbill" by foreigners in the”
“He stated that the bird in the tree was called by the Feringhees a "hornbill," but it was also known to some as the "rhinoceros bird.”
“European Pressphoto Agency The festival takes its name from the hornbill, a bird, a recurring theme in local folklore.”
“Diptendu Dutta/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images A Nishi tribesman wore a traditional hornbill cap as he queued to vote at a polling station in Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, Oct.13, 2009.”
“Joan rode on among the avenues of young cocoanut-palms, saw a hornbill, followed it in its erratic flights to the high forest on the edge of the plantation, heard the cooing of wild pigeons and located them in the deeper woods, followed the fresh trail of a wild pig for a distance, circled back, and took the narrow path for the bungalow that ran through twenty acres of uncleared cane.”
“African red-billed hornbill Tockus erythrorhyncus is recorded.”
“Grey hornbill Tockus birostris and Marshall's iora Aegithina nigrolutea are also present.”
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