Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of various starlings of southeast Asia, having bluish-black or dark brown coloration and yellow bills. Certain species, especially the hill myna (Gracula religiosa), are known for mimicry of human speech.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. See mina.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Any one of numerous species of Asiatic starlings of the genera Acridotheres, Sturnopastor, Sturnia, Gracula, and allied genera. In habits they resemble the European starlings, and like them are often caged and taught to talk. See Hill myna, under hill, and mino bird.
WordNet 3.0
- n. tropical Asian starlings
Etymologies
- Hindi mainā, perhaps from Sanskrit madanaḥ, from madana-, delightful, joyful, from madati, it bubbles.
Examples
“The myna is a bird considerably smaller than a crow.”
“European Pressphoto Agency Egrets sat with myna birds on a shrub in the Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, near the northeastern Indian city of Gauhati, Assam, Nov. 5.”
“Wieden+Kennedy 'My parrot, your myna,' says this poster, a wordplay on male and female body parts.”
“The sun is shining, the myna birds are chattering, palm trees are swaying, so what.”
The Wall Street Journal: Setting the Scene for 'The Descendants'
“I haven't heard the Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker for ages, so I don't know where he went, but the Peaceful Dove, the Spotted Dove and the two myna species Common and White-vented are all permanent residents in our trees.”
“But Corporations do not have Freedom of Speech, any more than myna birds or computers do.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » What’s Missing from This New York Times Editorial?
“For numberless years a myna had astounded travelers to the caravansary with its ability to spew indecencies in ten languages, and before the fight broke out everyone assumed the old blue-tongued devil on its perch by the fireplace was the one who maligned the giant African with such foulness and verve.”
“On this temperate autumn evening in the kingdom of Arran in the eastern foothills of the Caucasus, it was only the two natives of burning jungles, the African and the myna, who sought to warm their bones.”
“Some introduced resident landbirds are waxbill (Estrilda astrild), common myna (Acridotheres tristis), and canary (Serinus flaviventris).”
“The hotspot also has five endemic bird genera, each represented by a single species: golden-crested myna (Ampeliceps coronatus), short-tailed scimitar-babbler (Jabouilleia danjoui) and wedge-billed wren-babbler (Sphenoicichla humei).”
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