Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Having a curved bill; hook-beaked.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective (Zoöl.) Having a strongly curved bill.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • I'll spy stellar jays, rufus hummers, and hook-billed thatchers on prickly pear at dusk.

    madrigle Diary Entry madrigle 2003

  • Fordus rushed out of the smoke, Northstar and two of the bandits beside him, as the creature took shape out of fire and cloud: an enormous hook-billed bird-its shape that of a condor or vulture, its naked head blistered and ugly, its black eyes glitter-ing like gems.

    The Dark Queen Williams, Michael, 1952 Dec. 17- 1994

  • He pos­sessed a small, hook-billed instrument for the purpose of sawing odds and ends from papers and magazines.

    The Old Silent Grimes, Martha 1973

  • Although the figure was human the head was that of a hook-billed bird of prey.

    Daybreak 2250 AD Norton, Andre 1952

  • Although the figure was human the head was that of a hook-billed bird of prey.

    Daybreak 2250 AD Norton, Andre 1952

  • The male is slab-sided, hook-billed, and distorted, and is rejected by the canners.

    Scientific American Supplement, No. 275, April 9, 1881 Various

  • Instantly Peter crouched a little lower in his hiding-place, for he knew this for a member of the Hawk family and Peter has learned by experience that the only way to keep perfectly safe when one of these hook-clawed, hook-billed birds is about is to keep out of sight.

    Burgess Bird Book for Children 1919

  • Among its sixteen kingfishers, it possesses the carious hook-billed Macrorhina, and a red and blue Tanysiptera, the most beautiful of that beautiful genus.

    The Malay Archipelago, the land of the orang-utan and the bird of paradise; a narrative of travel, with studies of man and nature — Volume 2 Alfred Russel Wallace 1868

  • They have hook-billed noses, crow's-feet under their sunken eyes, and a mellow tinting of the hair.

    History of Woman Suffrage, Volume II Matilda Joslyn Gage 1862

  • But the voice varies in the different breeds; Mr. Brent [450] says that hook-billed ducks are very loquacious, and that Rouens utter a "dull, loud, and monotonous cry, easily distinguishable by an experienced ear."

    The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, Vol. I. Charles Darwin 1845

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