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  1. rara avis love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A rare or unique person or thing.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. A rare bird; hence, a person or an object of a rare kind or character; a prodigy.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A rare or unique person or thing.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a rare or unique person

Etymologies

  1. Latin rāra avis ("rare bird"), plural rarae aves (Wiktionary)
  2. Latin rāra avis : rāra, feminine of rārus, rare + avis, bird. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “And that exquisitely neat fellow, looking like a lad unconvincingly made-up for an octogenarian in amateur theatricals, was the premier of the largest province in the world: his thin-featured neighbor was an aeronaut -- at this period really a rara avis -- and went above the clouds to get his livelihood, just as ordinary people went to banks and offices.”

    The Cream of the Jest: A Comedy of Evasions

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hypernyms (2)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. anomaly
  1. unusual person

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Lists

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Comments

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  • emil "rara avis in terris nigroque simillima cygno" Juvenal's Satires Jun 9, 2012

  • madmouth best example is in Hop Frog:

    "I never knew anyone so keenly alive to a joke as the king was. He seemed to live only for joking. To tell a good story of the joke kind, and to tell it well, was the surest road to his favor. Thus it happened that his seven ministers were all noted for their accomplishments as jokers. They all took after the king, too, in being large, corpulent, oily men, as well as inimitable jokers. Whether people grow fat by joking, or whether there is something in fat itself which predisposes to a joke, I have never been quite able to determine; but certain it is that a lean joker is a rara avis in terris." May 7, 2009

  • reesetee It's spreading! Apr 5, 2009

  • bilby I heard that Rara Avis is 42 this year. Apr 4, 2009

  • sionnach No car rental available. Jul 14, 2008

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‘rara avis’ has been looked up 1364 times, loved by 4 people, added to 29 lists, commented on 5 times, and is not a valid Scrabble word.