Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A small Old World finch (Carduelis cannabina) having brownish plumage.
- n. A similar bird (Carpodacus mexicanus) of Mexico and the western United States. Also called house finch.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A small songbird, Linaria or Linota cannabina, of the family Fringillidæ, inhabiting parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is about
inches long, and in extent of wings. The plumage is streaked with various gray, brown, and flaxen shades; the male in summer has the poll and breast rosy or red. The linnet is called gray, brown, and red or rose, according to sex and season; it has also many local or dialectal names. The yellow-billed linnet, mountain-linnet, or twite is another species of the same genus. L. flavirostris or L. montium. There are yet other species, and sundry related birds also are called linnets, as the redpolls of the genus Ægiothus. The bird called pine-linnet or pine-finch in the United States is a siskin, Chrysomitris pinus. - n. An ore which contains phosphate intermixed with carbonate of lead in variable proportions: so called on account of the linnet-like color due to the presence of the phosphate.
Wiktionary
- n. A small passerine bird, Carduelis cannabina in the finch family Fringillidae that derives its scientific name from its fondness for hemp, and its English name from its liking for seeds of flax, from which linen is made.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of fringilline birds of the genera Linota, Acanthis, and allied genera, esp. the common European species (Linota cannabina), which, in full summer plumage, is chestnut brown above, with the breast more or less crimson. The feathers of its head are grayish brown, tipped with crimson. Called also
gray linnet ,red linnet ,rose linnet ,brown linnet ,lintie ,lintwhite ,gorse thatcher ,linnet finch , andgreater redpoll . The American redpoll linnet (Acanthis linaria) often has the crown and throat rosy. See redpoll, and twite.
WordNet 3.0
- n. small Old World finch whose male has a red breast and forehead
- n. small finch originally of the western United States and Mexico
Etymologies
- From Old French linette, from lin ("flax"). (Wiktionary)
- Obsolete French linette, from Old French, from lin, flax (from its feeding on flax seed), from Latin līnum; see librevema.gifno- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The linnet is here, and the lark, and the yellowhammer,”
“For the voice that he swore 'ud out-call the linnet's”
“The English word linnet does not, to my mind, convey so much of simple beauty and of pastoral ideas as belong to our Scottish word LINTIE.”
Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character
“There is something very Arcadian and un-Cockney-like in the idea of linnet-singing in Lock's Fields.”
“Our linnet is a little larger than the English, with a clear, bell-like voice, as of a blacksmith’s hammer on an anvil.”
“And I am sure you’ll not believe this, but a linnet is an English finch.”
“linnet'! oh, my poor Merle, you have taken wings indeed!”
“The latter, whose anger was unbounded, had seized a poignard at his girdle, and was about to have rushed on the impassable aggressor, when a guttural cry, like that of the _cilguero_, (a kind of linnet of”
“If you have never heard the lilting song of the linnet, spotted the distinctive plumage of a goldcrest, or waited for the whirring wings of a grey partridge, it is increasingly unlikely that you ever will.”
“The grey partridge has declined by 90% in the UK alone, and the linnet by 57%.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘linnet’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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birds
birds with singular names from
at least 9 English dictionariesaasvogel, aberdevine, accentor, accipiter, aepyornis, agami, albatross, alcatras, alcid, alcidine, amadavat, amokura and 1056 more...
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Davenport
words looked up recently from reading Guy Davenport
flenite, sampan, provender, comitatus, cycladic, surd, scialytic, lignite, plangencies, fugal, zamindary, macaque and 112 more...
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More Bird Wirds: North America
Birds endemic to the United States and/or North America.
toucan, peacock, weaver, bullfinch, redpoll, siskin, crossbill, finch, rosy-finch, oriole, cowbird, blackbird and 213 more...
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Cold Comfort Farm
From the novel by Stella Gibbons
tyro, bustle, locust years, lambency, mere, berg, fen, bilious, cataclysm, flapdoodle, vulgar, serener and 98 more...
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theastic's Words
cellar, stalemate, wrought, opal, tyrant, squelch, squab, linen, tartan, paisley, scope, siren and 395 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (L)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
labyrinth, lace, lad, lady fingers, lagoon, lamb, lament, lammas, lantern, larkspur, lass, lauds and 92 more...
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Jane Eyre
abigail, sanguine, chancel, bourne, peremptorily, parley, unwonted, fagging, convolvuli, tarry, insuperable, execrations and 190 more...
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Hedgepiglet
Words for things both tangible and nonanthropic
rorqual, vellus, wrasse, rainbow bee-eater, tinkershire, lemonquat, boomslang, tufted vetch, cubeb, nipplefruit, madapple, wad and 447 more...
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lanklenmot's Words
ineluctable, prelapsarian, bien pensant, prospero, preternatural, gratifying, iconoclast, cineast, persnickety, tumescent, galvanize, pap and 889 more...
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learning
A list of words whose meanings I am learning, either because a) I don't know the meaning b) I know the meaning, but could stand to better appreciate certain inflections or secondary meanings or c) ...
louche, educe, loam, cob, sclerotic, palliate, axial, syndicalist, ecumenical, sally, fatuous, parvenu and 1387 more...
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jbd1's Words
mondegreen, discombobulate, ourobouros, unputdownable, gobbledygook, zephyr, obloquy, prestidigitation, glossolalia, dilapidated, revivification, truthiness and 92 more...
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5-0
Hecko, words! I’m so happy I’ve found you. I want to keep you all and never want to lose you again. I hope you like it here.
amscray, thistledown, tine, tinsel, pungent, snarl, wail, lanky, viscid, dawdle, luminous, stow and 2719 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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persnickety parlance
behoove, ebullient, insouciant, insipient, froth, quandary, quixotic, tendril, maktub, furrow, furl, anastrophe and 1076 more...
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pinionated
birds, esp. ones I have personally encountered or would like to
great tit, hooded crow, grebe, petrel, bittern, thrush, capercaillie, quail, glede, corn crake, linnet, harrier and 4 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for linnet.

jaime_d From "A Field of Snow on a Slope of the Rosenberg" by Guy Davenport. Jan 19, 2010
yarb Dryden's "Ode on the Death of Purcell":
Mark how the lark and linnet sing:
With rival notes
They strain their warbling throats
To welcome in the spring. Sep 24, 2007