Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various small colorful birds of the family Pipridae, found in forests of Central and South America.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • See manikin.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous small birds belonging to Pipra, Manacus, and other genera of the family Pipridæ. They are mostly natives of Central and South America. Some are bright-colored, and others have the wings and tail curiously ornamented. The name is sometimes applied to related birds of other families.
  • noun A dwarf. See manikin.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any of several small, passerine, South American birds of the family Pipridae

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a woman who wears clothes to display fashions
  • noun a life-size dummy used to display clothes
  • noun any of numerous small bright-colored birds of Central America and South America having short bills and elaborate courtship behavior

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration of manikin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Probably from manikin

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Examples

  • But lance-tailed manakin males cooperate in spectacular courtship displays with unrelated partners.

    Science Press Releases 2007

  • The bird example is the Araripe's manakin (Antilophia bokermanni), a wonderful bird recently discovered on the forest slopes of Chapada do Araripe.

    Caatinga Enclaves moist forests 2007

  • Recently, he wrote about a little bird called a manakin.

    moonwalking bird asakiyume 2007

  • Gradually his ear became accustomed to the roar, and, above its mighty undertone, he could hear the whisper of the wind among the shrubs, and the hum of myriad insects; while the rock manakin, with its saffron plumage, flitted before him from stone to stone, calling cheerily, and seeming to lead him on.

    Westward Ho! 2007

  • When the dominant male at a manakin lek dies, one of the subordinate males who assisted him inherits his position; ditto for the subordinate foundresses at a wasp nest.

    Behe Disproves Irreducible Complexity - The Panda's Thumb 2005

  • The prettiest bird was a tiny manakin, coal-black, with a red-and-orange head.

    VI. Through the Highland Wilderness of Western Brazil 1914

  • There was also a tiny soft-tailed woodpecker, no larger than a kinglet; a queer humming-bird with a slightly flexible bill; and many species of ant-thrush, tanager, manakin, and tody.

    VII. With a Mule Train Across Nhambiquara Land 1914

  • They ranged from party-colored macaws, green parrots, and big gregarious cuckoos down to a brilliant green-and-chestnut kingfisher, five and a quarter inches long, and a tiny orange-and-green manakin, smaller than any bird I have ever seen except a hummer.

    V. Up the River of Tapirs 1914

  • The great and good William McKinley, the patient, praying President, was most bitterly assailed, his motives most bitterly impunged and he was called "the puppet president," "the tool," "the manakin."

    Life of Charles T. Walker, D.D., ("The Black Spurgeon.") Pastor Mt. Olivet Baptist Church, New York City 1902

  • They ranged from party-colored macaws, green parrots, and big gregarious cuckoos down to a brilliant green-and-chestnut kingfisher, five and a quarter inches long, and a tiny orange-and - green manakin, smaller than any bird I have ever seen except a hummer.

    Through the Brazilian Wilderness Theodore Roosevelt 1888

Comments

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  • A passerine bird of the family Pipridae of Central and South America. Compare mannikin.

    September 28, 2008