murmuration

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (1)  · 
“
That restless murmuration, and the width of the night with its scattered stars, seemed to come rushing at his face.

View all »
Definitions (4)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Murmuring; discontent; grumbling. After bakbityng cometh grucchyng or murmuracioun. Chaucer, Parson's Tale.
  2. In falconry, a gathering of starlings.

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

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (10)

  • Thousands of birds, known as a murmuration, are currently roosting in the Obridge area of Taunton and County Gazette photographer Geoff Hall (pictured) took the once-in-a-lifetime shot from the Obridge Link.
  • That restless murmuration, and the width of the night with its scattered stars, seemed to come rushing at his face. —  Complete Project Gutenberg John Galsworthy Works
  • The chalk-pit was full of sunshine and the murmuration of bees. —  Complete Project Gutenberg John Galsworthy Works
  • They went forth with a strong murmuration, —  Henry of Monmouth, Volume 2 Memoirs of Henry the Fifth
  • Log on today Back to Table of Contents Growing Old the Mythic Way by Jane Yolen Green/Man Grown Old Wrists veined like leaves Hair the color of flowers gone by He bends with every passing wind He can no longer lie with a lover Nor dance inside the storm Too much hails hurts his hide The swollen river makes his right ankle seize up He is always thirsty, even in the rain Yet he does not complain He does not complain Last Unicorn Others, like foxes, go to ground But the last unicorn, whitened Faded the color of old sheets hung On the trailer park line Goes to the edge of the ocean The tops of the waves are as white as he Brothers, he thinks, sisters And plunges in, not so much a death As a transfiguration At Last, The Little Mermaid She no longer remembers the knives in her feet Or the one in her hand, so close to his throat It might have pricked him without her meaning to She no longer remembers the curse Or the cure or the painful interstices All she remembers is foam, the bubbles rising And the songs of angels So like the murmuration of the sea Jack, the Giant, and All After Two old men, playing chess, in a house of old men As they play, a harp keeps them company They share a history, though neither can recall it One so large, his memories are all of sky The other so small, he thinks all day of earth Two old friends, sharing a game, whose complicated rules Are the only thing they can agree upon Troll Under Bridge It is almost dawn and the troll under the bridge Gets to his knees, crawls out through the thin water To the river bank. —  Asimov's SF, June2006
More examples »
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 22 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (1)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English murmuracioun, from Old French murmuracion, French murmuration = Spanish murmuracion, mormuracion = Portuguese murmuração = Italian mormorazione, murmurazione, from Latin murmuratio(n-), a murmuring, from murmurare, past participle murmuratus, murmur: see murmur, v.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »

If you'd like to prod us on getting a pronunciation for this word, sign in (or sign up) and let us know.

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

We are still working on calculating this word's frequency.

Recently looked up

AutoPlay · egomaniac · wanderlust · pithy · metaphor

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

Der dicke Dachdecker deckte dir dein Dach, drum dank dem dicken Dachdecker, dass der dicke Dachdecker dir dein Dach deckte. · weitläufig · und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, so leben sie noch heute · redescheu · selbstverständlich