grack·le

(grăk′əl)

1. Any of several blackbirds of the family Icteridae found throughout the Americas, especially those of the genus Quiscalus, having iridescent blackish plumage.

2. Any of several Asian mynas of the genus Gracula.

[New Latin Grācula, genus name, from Latin grāculus, jackdaw; see gerə- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

grackle

(ˈɡrækəl)

1. (Animals) Also called: crow blackbird any American songbird of the genera Quiscalus and Cassidix, having a dark iridescent plumage: family Icteridae (American orioles)

2. (Animals) any of various starlings of the genus Gracula, such as G. religiosa (Indian grackle or hill mynah)

[C18: from New Latin Grācula, from Latin grāculus jackdaw]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

grack•le

(ˈgræk əl)

n.

1. any of several long-tailed New World blackbirds, esp. of the genus Quiscalus, as the common North American species Q. quiscula, having iridescent black plumage.

2. any of several Old World birds of the family Sturnidae, esp. certain mynas.

[1765–75; < New Latin Gracula a genus of mynas < Latin grāculus jackdaw]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	grackle - glossy black Asiatic starling often taught to mimic speech Gracula religiosa, hill myna, Indian grackle mina, minah, myna, myna bird, mynah, mynah bird - tropical Asian starlings
	2.	grackle - long-tailed American blackbird having iridescent black plumage crow blackbird blackbird, New World blackbird - any bird of the family Icteridae whose male is black or predominantly black genus Quiscalus, Quiscalus - grackles purple grackle, Quiscalus quiscula - eastern United States grackle

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References in periodicals archive

Great-tailed grackle was a premium find in Lake, discovered in August by Bonnie Graham and Joan Campbell at Spring Bluff Forest Preserve.

Time for reflection on 'The Year of the Bird' Reiter: You didn't have to travel far for great bird sightings

This month's whimsy award goes to Blanket Fort: Growing Up Is Optional (Morrow Gift, $18.99, 112 pages, ISBN 9780062742759) by a husband-and-wife creative team who are mysteriously (and whimsically) only known to readers as Grackle + Pigeon.

Fort nights

(1993, 1996, 2001) and Mason and Bonwell (1993) studies on grackle, red-winged blackbirds and brown-headed cowbirds certified the results obtained with treatment of turpentine, insecticide, mint derivatives and methylanthranilate.

Potential of natural repellents methylanthranilate and anthraquinone applied on maize seeds and seedlings against house sparrow (Passer domesticus) in captivity/Potencial de repelentes naturais, metilantranilato e antraquinona aplicados em sementes de milho e mudas contra o pardal (Passer domesticus) em cativeiro

Joudah exploits the fuzziness of language from the outset, toying with false chiasms and faux epigrams like "the falafel of truth / and the truth of falafel." Bathetic, ironic, and obscure by turns, the books first section complicates the "common" with roundabout epithets like "the grackle, common, / indigo, icteric-eyed New World // passerine." Associations that hinge on sonic rather than semiotic connections ("not chasm but chiasm") and moments of ambiguous syntax foreground words as words, functioning originally in their "status as feeling." The question of origins, too, recurs throughout Footnotes.

Fady Joudah: Footnotes in the Order of Disappearance

(2001) and Mason and Bonwell (1993) found similar results with the applications of turpentine, insecticide, mint derivates and methylanthranilate in studies on red- winged blackbirds, brown headed cowbirds and grackle corroborated.

Short Communication - Effectiveness of Methylanthranilate and Anthraquinone as Repellent against House Crows (Corvus splendens) on Wheat Seeds and Seedlings in Captivity

A grackle sits upon a log that marks an old tree's passing.

'A shower in June'

The fifth stanza-with an awkward third line--weakly repeats, rather than develops, the description in the first: "the pack of hounds / At heel," "the tall poles," "return" echoing "returning" in lines five and six, and "winter hill." There are actually four (not three) rooks in the trees watching while a long-tailed grackle flies toward the desolate mountains, as well as one bird on the ground and five tiny black birds resting on the sloping roof, bare tree branches and sheet of ice in the lower right.

Bruegel and John Berryman

The Fifteenth- and Twentieth-Century Colonization of the Basin of Mexico by the Great-tailed Grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus).

Nuevos registros de aberraciones cromaticas en el plumaje de dos especies de aves en zonas urbanas de Hidalgo Y Tamaulipas, Mexico

Six are of related families: 26 cub ~ dog = 64 bruin ~ whelp 49 chimp ~ gibbon 53 anaconda ~ iguana 57 catbird ~ grackle 98 buzzard ~ osprey.

Biological gematria

For the grackle group and probably other species, it's "just not the case," Price says.

Drab now, female birds had more colorful evolution: male changes did not drive differences in avian plumage