fly·catch·er

(flī′kăch′ər, -kĕch′-)

1. Any of various Eurasian birds of the family Muscicapidae that feed on insects, usually catching the insects in flight.

2. Any of various similar birds of the family Tyrannidae, found throughout the Americas. Also called tyrant flycatcher.

3. Any of various similar birds of the Monarchidae family, found in Asia, Africa, and Australia, or the Ptilogonatidae family, found primarily in Central America.

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.

flycatcher

(ˈflaɪˌkætʃə)

1. (Animals) any small insectivorous songbird of the Old World subfamily Muscicapinae, having small slender bills fringed with bristles: family Muscicapidae. See also spotted flycatcher

2. (Animals) any American passerine bird of the family Tyrannidae

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

fly•catch•er

(ˈflaɪˌkætʃ ər)

n.

1. Also called tyrant flycatcher. any of numerous New World suboscine birds of the family Tyrannidae, that sally from perches to catch insects in the air.

2. any of numerous similar Old World songbirds of the subfamily Muscicapinae.

[1670–80]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	flycatcher - any of a large group of small songbirds that feed on insects taken on the wing Old World flycatcher, true flycatcher oscine, oscine bird - passerine bird having specialized vocal apparatus family Muscicapidae, Muscicapidae - Old World (true) flycatchers Muscicapa grisola, Muscicapa striata, spotted flycatcher - common European woodland flycatcher with greyish-brown plumage thickhead, whistler - Australian and southeastern Asian birds with a melodious whistling call
	2.	flycatcher - large American birds that characteristically catch insects on the wing New World flycatcher, tyrant bird, tyrant flycatcher tyrannid - a passerine bird of the suborder Tyranni superfamily Tyrannidae, Tyrannidae - New World tyrant flycatchers most numerous in Central America and South America but also in the United States and Canada kingbird, Tyrannus tyrannus - large American flycatcher Contopus virens, pewee, wood pewee, peewee, peewit, pewit - small olive-colored woodland flycatchers of eastern North America phoebe bird, Sayornis phoebe, phoebe - small dun-colored North American flycatcher Pyrocephalus rubinus mexicanus, vermillion flycatcher, firebird - tropical American flycatcher found as far north as southern Texas and Arizona; adult male has bright scarlet and black plumage cotinga, chatterer - passerine bird of New World tropics Muscivora-forficata, scissortail, scissortailed flycatcher - grey flycatcher of the southwestern United States and Mexico and Central America having a long forked tail and white breast and salmon and scarlet markings

Translations

acchiappamosche

flycatcher

[ˈflaɪˌkætʃəʳ] N (Orn) → papamoscas m inv

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

The "rover bird" so-called, the coroneted crane, the red and blue jays, the mocking-bird, the flycatcher, disappeared among the foliage of the immense trees, and all nature revealed symptoms of some approaching catastrophe.

View in context

Of diversified habits innumerable instances could be given: I have often watched a tyrant flycatcher (Saurophagus sulphuratus) in South America, hovering over one spot and then proceeding to another, like a kestrel, and at other times standing stationary on the margin of water, and then dashing like a kingfisher at a fish.

View in context

Polanco -- Lazo and Bolas -- Partridges -- Absence of Trees -- Deer -- Capybara, or River Hog -- Tucutuco -- Molothrus, cuckoo-like habits -- Tyrant- flycatcher -- Mocking-bird -- Carrion Hawks -- Tubes formed by Lightning -- House struck.

View in context

The illustration is Plate 14 from the first of Thorburn's four-volume opus and shows: top, the waxwing; left to right, second row, pied flycatcher, red-breasted flycatcher, pied flycatcher, spotted flycatcher and brown flycatcher; bottom, collared flycatcher and golden oriole

WATCH THE birdie; Sometimes you can find a gem at a price that wouldn't ruffle anyone's feathers

| Spotted Flycatcher PICTURE: BENPORTERWILDLIFE.CO.UK SPOTTED Flycatchers are probably our most overlooked African summer migrant.

BIRD NOTES With Julian Hughes

Now, researchers at the University of Missouri, Columbia, have found that the Acadian flycatcher is at risk of severe population decline--across the 96,000,000-acre Central Hardwoods Region--within the century if the climate continues to warm.

Rising Temperatures Endanger Songbird

his face, browned in sun like a nightingale's plumage, and his voice, just as rich and sturdy as the flycatcher's song as it floats its way through shallow spring night.

First place, Poetry -- 'If Man Is Teeth'

The pied flycatcher, a small migratory bird that spends winters in Africa and returns to Europe in spring to breed, is known to build its nest on top of the previously constructed nest of a resident woodland bird in Europe the great tit.

Fatal Shift

The European pied flycatcher runs on a tight schedule each spring.

Confused by Climate Change

Perhaps my favorite is the Spotted Flycatcher. As an adult, it is more streaked than spotted.

Sprawl Around London Offers Array Of Nature

This includes rarest ones like the Himalayan Forest Thrush, Tibetan Lark, Nicobar Jungle Flycatcher and Chinese Francolin.

Birdman claims a new record