Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of or relating to birds of the order Passeriformes, which includes perching birds and songbirds such as the jays, blackbirds, finches, warblers, and sparrows.
- n. A bird of the order Passeriformes.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Resembling or related to a sparrow; of or pertaining to the Passerinæ, in any sense, or the Passeres; passeriform.
- About as large as a sparrow: as, the passerine parrot, Psittacula passerina; the passerine ground-dove, Chamæpelia passerina; the passerine owl, Glaucidium passerinum. Also passeroid.
- n. A member of the Passerinæ, Passeres, or Passeriformes.
Wiktionary
- n. Any bird of the order Passeriformes, which comprises more than half of all bird species.
- adj. Of, or relating to a passerine or perching bird.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. (Zoöl.) Of or pertaining to the Passeres.
- n. (Zoöl.) One of the Passeres.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. relating to or characteristic of the passeriform birds
- n. perching birds mostly small and living near the ground with feet having 4 toes arranged to allow for gripping the perch; most are songbirds; hatchlings are helpless
Etymologies
- Latin passerinus ("of sparrows"), from passer + -inus (Wiktionary)
- Latin passerīnus, of sparrows, from passer, sparrow. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species”
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“A similar nomadic lifestyle is found in small passerine seed-eating birds such as redpolls and crossbills (Loxia spp.) in the forest tundra.”
“Moth larvae, particularly those in the family Geometridae (the “loopers” or “spanworms”), are a large component of the diet of many passerine birds in the boreal forest and near the forest/tundra margin.”
“In parallel, isotopic signatures of whole insect bodies and passerine muscular tissues were tracked throughout the year, serving as a control.”
“Moreover, a higher fraction of songbirds 'flesh in autumn than in spring was attributed to the more massive passerine migration in autumn, because both parents and offspring migrate then towards their wintering grounds in Africa, whereas in spring only birds having survived winter mortality return to their breeding area.”
“IMO, passerine parasitism is mainly due to their altricial nature.”
“Coming soon: musings on a possible path to passerine parasitism.”
“The fossil passerine birds from the Pleistocene of Carpinteria, California.”
“Out of 178 species recorded ninety-six (54%) were passeriforms, eighty-two (46%) non-passerine.”
“The endemics include the highly threatened blue-eyed ground dove (Columbina cyanopis, CR), the Minas Gerais tyrannulet (Phylloscartes roquettei, CR), known only from three areas in the São Francisco valley in north and central Minas Gerais, and the Brasília tapaculo (Scytalopus novacapitalis), a passerine that is found only in a few populations in gallery forest remnants near Brasilia, and a few locations in Minas Gerais, including the Serra da Canastra National Park.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘passerine’.
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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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phrontistery - p
from phrontistery.info
pabouche, pabulous, pabulum, pacable, pace, pachydermia, pachyglossal, pachymeter, pachynsis, paciferous, pacificate, pactolian and 1766 more...
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animals strike curious poses
the asethetic of an animal... animal adjectives
corvine, pavonine, equine, bovine, musteline, myrmecine, ursine, apic, ranine, vulpine, vespine, pteropine and 20 more...
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minneapolitan's Words
hissyfit, fussbudget, aghast, lament, trichinellosis, tranche, decadent, aspersion, pejorative, aniline, galoshes, accede and 200 more...
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seventhspice's Words
supine, distaff, lest, janissary, articulator, chaos, scrumptious, charlatan, alacrity, papyrus, corollary, funicular and 106 more...
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Beastly adjectives
How would you describe your brother-in-law? Is he a tad bovine? Maybe there is something lacertilian about him? Or his business practices seem a little percesocine to you.
dasyproctine, tolypeutine, asinine, feline, canine, eusuchian, simian, musteline, cervine, caprine, percesocine, hirudine and 227 more...
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...another list...
I've no idea where I got this page full of words, but whatever it is, I want to find it again. May have duplicate words from other lists.
bicameral, aphelion, dirigible, parhelion, flocculus, vernier, corticate, oxalis, pandanus, calabash, plumbago, jonquil and 217 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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Animal-ine
feline, leonine, vulpine, canine, ranine, elephantine, serpentine, cervine, ovine, porcine, aquinine, asinine and 171 more...
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Clearinghouse
For stuff to simply reside.
calcar, pinion, espadrille, antipodes, peregrine, cormorant, tanager, vireo, farrago, undervest, passerine, oscine and 881 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (P)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
pagan, page, pageant, pageboy, pagoda, paisley, paladin, palfrey, paling, pampas grass, pan, panoply and 194 more...
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nfrank's Words
antediluvian, equivocate, inchoate, denouement, effulgent, edify, endemic, palimpsest, apropos, circumnavigate, circumlocution, cognoscente and 484 more...
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Things Avian
Wordies relating to birdies. :-)
calidrid, corvid, avian, avifauna, beak, brood, aerie, altricial, albumen, winged, wattle, covey and 217 more...
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Animal Adjectives
Words like porcine and bovine. I'm collecting them.
porcine, bovine, corvine, ovine, vulpine, feline, canine, lupine, ursine, equine, vespine, oscine and 10 more...
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Animaline
Animal words ending in -ine
bovine, porcine, taurine, ursine, leonine, murcine, piscine, elephantine, serpentine, vulpine, zebrine, feline and 16 more...
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Describing people
charlatan, blackguard, scoundrel, droll, quartermaster, pleonastic, wizened, fop, revenant, odalisque, miscreant, claque and 1 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for passerine.
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