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  1. wagtail love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Any of various chiefly Old World birds of the family Motacillidae, having a slender body with a long tail that constantly wags.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. Any bird of the family Motacillidæ (which see): so called from the continual wagging motion of the tail. The species are very numerous, and chiefly confined to the Old World. Those of the subfamily Anthinæ are commonly called pipits or titlarks. (See cut under Anthus.) The white, black, gray, and pied wagtails belong to the genus Motacilla, as M. alba and M. lugubris or yarrelli. (See Motacilla.) The closely related genus Budytes comprises among others the common blue-headed yellow wagtail, B. flava, of very wide distribution in the Old World and found in Alaska.
  2. n. Some Similar bird. In the United States the name is frequently given to two birds of the genus Seiurus, the common water-thrush and the large-billed water-thrush, S. nævius and S. motacilla, members of the family Mniotiltidæ, or American warblers. See cut under Seiurus.
  3. n. A term of familiarity or contempt.
  4. n. A pert person.
  5. To flutter; move the wings and tail like a wagtail.

Wiktionary

  1. n. Any of various small passerine birds of the family Motacillidae, of the Old World, notable for their long tails.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Zoöl.) Any one of many species of Old World singing birds belonging to Motacilla and several allied genera of the family Motacillidæ. They have the habit of constantly jerking their long tails up and down, whence the name.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. Old World bird having a very long tail that jerks up and down as it walks

Etymologies

  1. wag +‎ tail (Wiktionary)

Examples

  • “Is it known that the pretty pied water-wagtail is called la lavandière from its love of water and its manner of beating up and down its tail as our washerwomen wield their wooden beaters?”

    A Childhood in Brittany Eighty Years Ago

  • “What was generally made use of consisted of vervain, tenia, and hippomanes; or a small portion of the secundine of a mare that had just foaled, together with a little bird called wagtail; in Latin motacilla.”

    A Philosophical Dictionary

  • “It would seem quite natural to call the wagtail "lady-bird," if that name had not been registered by a diminutive podgy tortoise-shaped black and red beetle.”

    Afoot in England

  • “Something in the style of the birds recalls the wagtail, though they are so much larger.”

    The Open Air

  • “_solopachium_, meaning a "mannikin eighteen inches high"; Saumasius proposes salopygium, a "wagtail"; several editors have _salaputium_, an indelicate word nurses used to children when they fondled them, so that the exclamation would mean, "what a learned little puppet!”

    The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus

  • “Others identify more intimate ambassadors: the first dashing yellow daffodil, the rising dawn chorus of birdsong, the earliest appearance of frogspawn in ponds and ditches, the first cut of grass, a pied wagtail over ploughed land and yellow catkins dangling from hazel branches all symbolise spring's arrival for someone.”

    The Guardian: Spring's here: skylarks overhead, moles in the garden, moths in the bathroom

  • “Two other species of wagtail also breed in Britain, the grey and yellow wagtails.”

    The Guardian: Birdwatch: Pied wagtail

  • “Grey wagtails are resident, and often found along fast-flowing rivers and streams, while the yellow wagtail is purely a summer visitor, found mainly in wet-meadows such as those on Tealham Moor, a short distance from my home.”

    The Guardian: Birdwatch: Pied wagtail

  • “Despite their names they are often confused with one another, as the grey wagtail is a striking bird with plenty of lemon-yellow in its plumage.”

    The Guardian: Birdwatch: Pied wagtail

  • “The British race, the pied wagtail, has a much darker back: almost black in the male, compared with pale grey in the white wagtail.”

    The Guardian: Birdwatch: Pied wagtail

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hypernyms (2)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. oscine
  1. oscine bird

same context (11)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. Francis
  2. two-wheeler
  1. chickadee
  2. two-wheel
  1. smartish
  2. open-topped
  1. carny
  2. recce
  1. looter
  2. liquorish
  1. curlew

reverse dictionary (30)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. waterie
  2. water-wagtail
  3. washdish
  4. molly
  5. washer
  6. washerwoman
  1. wood-wagtail
  2. water wagtail
  3. water-thrush
  4. dishwasher
  5. coldfinch
  6. water-swallow
  1. willy-wagtail
  2. moll-washer
  3. motacil
  4. oatseed-bird
  5. quaketail
  6. budytes
  1. gomarita
  2. seed-bird
  3. waggie
  4. wagtail
  5. field wagtail
  6. garden wagtail
  1. pied wagtail
  2. wood wagtail
  3. water thrush
  4. white wagtail
  5. winter wagtail
  6. kickup

tags (1)

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  1. bird

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tagging (1)

Words tagged ‘wagtail’

  1. waterie

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‘wagtail’ has been looked up 2051 times, loved by 1 person, added to 11 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 11.