Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. An act or instance of murmuring.
- n. A flock of starlings.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. The act of murmuring; a murmur.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Murmuring; discontent; grumbling.
- n. In falconry, a gathering of starlings.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. a low continuous indistinct sound; often accompanied by movement of the lips without the production of articulate speech
Etymologies
Examples
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Starlings are great virtuosi, wonderful mimics as well as splendid singers, and incorporate so many different sounds into their songs that a flock of them is called a murmuration.
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Thousands of birds, known as a murmuration, are currently roosting in the Obridge area of Taunton and County Gazette photographer Geoff Hall (pictured) took the once-in-a-lifetime shot from the Obridge Link.
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A starling flock like this is called a murmuration, a word that perfectly describes the rustle of thousands of pairs of wings.
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'murmuration' make fantastical shapes as the flock wheel and dive through the air.
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph
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Don Tapscott has written persuasively about the mechanism and culture of collaboration, and even produced a wonderful video on the notion of weak -- even unintelligent -- signals that result in glorious patterns of starling murmuration.
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I'd never heard of this phenomenon before--its called "murmuration."
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The very sumptuousness of the renovated terminal, which will soon enough be filled with the brisk murmuration of passing lawyers, is a reminder that we live in an age when, as in medieval times, decoration is the prerogative of the rich.
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You can find a video of a smaller murmuration in Brighton here.
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The chalk-pit was full of sunshine and the murmuration of bees.
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There seemed in all this white murmuration to be millions of tiny hands stretching out to me, millions of whispering voices, of wistful eyes.
slienert commented on the word murmuration
When one watches a murmuration of starlings fly over a lake synchronized en masse, the next question has to be, "I wonder if there is a murmuration of trout swimming below?"
January 25, 2014
skipvia commented on the word murmuration
See murmuration of starlings
November 16, 2007