ibis

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various storklike wading birds of the family Threskiornithidae of temperate and tropical regions, having a long, slender, downward-curving bill.
2. n. The wood ibis.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A bird of the family Ibididæ, or of the genus Ibis in a wide sense. There are about 24 species, of numerous modern genera, chiefly inhabitants of the lakes and swamps of the warmer parts of the globe. They resemble herons, storks, and other large altricial grallatorial birds. They feed on fish, reptiles, and other animals, chiefly aquatic, nest on the ground or in trees or bushes, lay a few eggs of a uniform color, and rear their young in the nest. The most notable species, and the one to which the name ibis appears originally to have been given, is the sacred ibis of Egypt and other parts of Africa (ibis religiosa), an object of veneration among the old Egyptians, frequently mummified after death, and represented in pictographs upon their monuments. It is about 2 feet long; the plumage is white and black; the naked head, bill, and feet are black. The glossy, bay, or black ibis (Ibis faleinellus, Falcinellus igneus, Plegadis falcinellus, etc.) is the most nearly cosmopolitan species, inhabiting chiefly the old world, but straying to North America, and reaching cold-temperate latitudes in both hemispheres. It is iridescent with green and black, varied by opaque dark-chestnut tints. The white-faced glossy ibis, Ibis guarauna, is a related species abundant in warm parts of America, and found in the southwestern United States. The white ibis, Eudocimus albus, inhabits the southern United States, where it is known as the Spanish curlew. The plumage of the adult is pure white, with black-tipped wings. A splendid species of tropical and subtropical America is the scarlet ibis, Eudocimus ruber, which when adult is scarlet, with black-tipped wings. Many of the other species present equally notable characters, as the Australian strawnecked ibis (Geronticus or Carphibis spinicollis), the African (Geronticus (Hagedashia) hagedash), the white Japanese (Geronticus (Nipponia) nippon), etc.
2. n. [capitalized] [NL.] The leading genus of the family Ibididæ, formerly more than coextensive with the family, but successively restricted to various generic types of ibises. Its current uses are now for that group which the sacred ibis typifies, and for that of which the scarlet ibis is the type. Modern genera which have been detached from the old genus Ibis are Falcinellus of Bechstein, Geronticus, Eudocimus, Harpiprion, Theristicus, Phimosus, Cercibis of Wagler, Threskiornis of G. R. Gray, Pseudibis of Hodgson, Hagedashia of Bonaparte, Leucibis, Carphibis, Lophotibis, Comatibis, Molypbdophanus, Bostrychia, Nipponia of Reichenbach, and others.
3. n. Some bird like an ibis, or supposed to be an ibis, as a wood-ibis or wood-stork. See Tantalinæ.
4. n. In angling, an artificial hackle-fly, ribbed with silver tinsel, with body, hackle, wings, and tail scarlet.

Wiktionary

1. n. Any of various long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae. They have long downcurved bills used to probe the mud for prey such as crustaceans.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Zoöl.) Any bird of the genus Ibis and several allied genera, of the family Ibidæ, inhabiting both the Old World and the New. Numerous species are known. They are large, wading birds, having a long, curved beak, and feed largely on reptiles.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. wading birds of warm regions having long slender down-curved bills