kingfisher

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The long grass waves and welcomes me; the moor-hens float with me; the kingfisher is always with me somewhere, and sits on the bough to see his ruddy breast in the water.

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Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun Any of various birds of the family Alcedinidae, characteristically having a crested head, a long stout beak, a short tail, and brilliant coloration.

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Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • Within my remembrance a kingfisher was unknown on the river, but now a season scarcely ever passes without one or two being observed, though no nest has been discovered so far as I know Night-jar. —  MY STRANGE PETS AND Other Memories of Country Life
  • What we need is a Huey Long manic boast -- a kingfisher, a dealer in miracle loaves. —  Stop Me Before I Vote Again
  • A city scene, something more rural, and a kingfisher are up for review on this week's community critiques. —  About.com Photography
  • All this may be had by anyone who will walk solitarily and with seeing eyes How beautiful are birds in flight!--the dart of a kingfisher, the sweep of a hawk, the dip and turn of a swallow, the tremulous beat of a rising lark, even the scurry of a park sparrow for the little bit of bread you throw him, all different and all beautiful; and what tiny, ineffectual, maimed creatures they are when they are dead, and their wings folded! —  Lynton and Lynmouth A Pageant of Cliff ; Moorland
  • 746. The male of the kingfisher was said by the ancients to be so constant to his mate that on her death he refused to couple with any other, for which reason the poets considered that bird as the emblem of conjugal affection. —  The Metamorphoses of Ovid Literally Translated into English Prose, with Copious Notes and Explanations
 

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/ˈkɪŋfɪʃər/
by American Heritage

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