Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of various chiefly Eurasian or African insectivorous birds of the family Motacillidae, having a slender body with a long tail that constantly wags.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To flutter; move the wings and tail like a wagtail.
- noun Any bird of the family Motacillidæ (which see): so called from the continual wagging motion of the tail.
- noun 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 . - noun A term of familiarity or contempt.
- noun A pert person.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (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. - noun any one of several species of wagtails of the genus Budytes having the tail shorter, the legs longer, and the hind claw longer and straighter, than do the water wagtails. Most of the species are yellow beneath. Called also
yellow wagtail . - noun the Indian black-breasted wagtail (
Nemoricola Indica ). - noun the common European water wagtail (
Motacilla lugubris ). It is variegated with black and white. The name is applied also to other allied species having similar colors. Called alsopied dishwasher . - noun a true flycatcher (
Sauloprocta motacilloides ) common in Southern Australia, where it is very tame, and frequents stock yards and gardens and often builds its nest about houses; -- called alsoblack fantail . - noun The American water thrush. See
Water thrush . - noun an Asiatic wagtail; (
Calobates sulphurea ) having a slender bill and short legs.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any of various small
passerine birds of the familyMotacillidae , of theOld World , notable for their long tails.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun Old World bird having a very long tail that jerks up and down as it walks
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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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?
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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.
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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 1881
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Something in the style of the birds recalls the wagtail, though they are so much larger.
The Open Air Richard Jefferies 1867
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_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 Gaius Valerius Catullus 1855
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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.
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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.
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The British race, the pied wagtail, has a much darker back: almost black in the male, compared with pale grey in the white wagtail.
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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.
Spring's here: skylarks overhead, moles in the garden, moths in the bathroom 2011
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Two other species of wagtail also breed in Britain, the grey and yellow wagtails.
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