Birds

bird  (bûrd)

n.

1.

a. Any of the class Aves of warm-blooded, egg-laying, feathered vertebrates with forelimbs modified to form wings.

b. Such an animal hunted as game.

c. Such an animal, especially a chicken or turkey, used as food: put the bird in the oven.

2. See clay pigeon.

3. Sports See shuttlecock.

4. Slang A rocket, guided missile, satellite, or airplane.

5. Slang A person, especially one who is odd or remarkable: a sly old bird.

6. Chiefly British Slang A young woman.

7. Slang

a. A loud sound expressing disapproval; a raspberry.

b. Discharge from employment: lost a big sale and nearly got the bird.

8. An obscene gesture of anger, defiance, or derision made by pointing or jabbing the middle finger upward.

intr.v. bird·ed, bird·ing, birds

1. To observe and identify birds in their natural surroundings.

2. To trap, shoot, or catch birds.

Idiom:

for the birds

Objectionable or worthless.

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[Middle English, from Old English brid, young bird.]

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birding n.

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Birds

See also animals; cocks

anthropoglot

an animal with a tongue like that of man, as the parrot.

avicide

the killing of birds.

aviculture

the raising or keeping of birds. — aviculturist, n.

caliology

Rare. the study of birds’ nests.

columbary

a structure for keeping doves or pigeons; a dovecote or pigeon loft. Also columbarium.

falconry

the practice of training and hunting with falcons or hawks.

heronry

the breeding place of a colony of herons.

neossology

the study of young birds.

nidification

the process or instinct of nest-building.

nidology

the study of birds’ nests. — nidologist, n.

oograph

a device for reproducing the outline of a bird’s egg.

oology

the branch of ornithology that collects and studies birds’ eggs. — oologist, n. — oologic, oological, adj.

oometer

a device for measuring eggs.

ooscopy

observation of the development of an embryo inside an egg by means of an ooscope.

ornithology

the branch of zoology that studies birds. — ornithologist, n. — ornithologie, ornithological, adj.

ornithomancy, ornithoscopy

the observation of birds, especially in flight, for the purpose of divination.

ornithomania

an abnormal love of birds.

ornithophobia

an abnormal fear of birds.

ornithosis

psittacosis, partieularly in birds other than those of the parrot family.

ornithotomy

the anatomy of birds. — ornithotomist, n. — ornithotomical, adj.

penisterophily

Rare. the raising and training of pigeons.

poultry

domestic fowl, particularly those raised for food or laying eggs.

psittacosis

a disease of parrots and other birds communicable to human beings. — psittacotic, adj.

pteronophobia

an abnormal fear of feathers.

pterylology

the branch of ornithology that studies the areas upon which birds grow feathers. Also pterylography.

rookery

a breeding or nesting place of rooks or of any gregarious bird or animal.

totipalmation

the state of having all four toes fully webbed, as water birds. — totipalmate, adj.

virilescence

a condition of some animals, and especially of some fowls, in which the female, when old, assumes some of the characteristics of the male of the species. — virilescent, adj.

volitation

flight, the act of flying, or the ability to fly.