house sparrow

Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Acronyms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

Related to house sparrow: house wren

house sparrow

A small bird (Passer domesticus) native to the Old World but widely naturalized elsewhere, having brown and gray plumage with a black throat in the adult male. Also called English sparrow.

house sparrow

(Animals) a small Eurasian weaverbird, Passer domesticus, now established in North America and Australia. It has a brown streaked plumage with grey underparts. Also called (US): English sparrow

house′ spar`row

a hardy brown and gray songbird, Passer domesticus, native to Eurasia: now common in much of the world near human habitation.

Also called English sparrow.

[1665–75]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun

house sparrow - small hardy brown-and-grey bird native to Europe

English sparrow, Passer domesticus

sparrow, true sparrow - any of several small dull-colored singing birds feeding on seeds or insects

genus Passer, Passer - type genus of the Passeridae

Mentioned in ?

References in periodicals archive ?

Garden residents a house sparrow (left) was last year's most common sighting and the blue tit (right) is another garden favourite

'Make garden Birdwatch the best yet!'

The house sparrow took top spot in last year's survey, with an average of nearly five seen per garden.

wild wales: Join in the big bird watch

Jamnagar (Gujarat), Mar 20 (ANI): Animal activists and environmentalists of Gujarat's Jamnagar observed World House Sparrow Day on Saturday to create awareness about their declining population.

Jamnagar's animal activists celebrate World House Sparrow Day

House sparrows are endangered unless we reduce the numbers of gulls in our city.

STRAIGHT TO THE POINT

The results reveal the house sparrow is Tyneside's top bird but last year's favourite, the starling, was pushed into second place.

Starling nudged out as our top darling

The four biggest loosers are the starling, the house sparrow, song thrush and blackbird.

WEEKEND: birdwatch: An important research study taking place in YOUR garden; HOW YOU CAN TAKE PART IN RESEARCH TO FIND OUT HOW OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS ARE FARING

Swallows and house martins are specialist insect hunters but seed eating birds, such as skylarks and house sparrows, also need insects to feed to their young.

Number's up for bugs stuck in traffic

The top 10 most common garden birds in Wales in this year's Big Garden Birdwatch were, in descending order: house sparrow, starling, blue tit, chaffinch, blackbird, great tit, greenfinch, robin, collared dove and jackdaw.

Sparrow flies to top of the tree

The house sparrow is being put on to the red list of endangered species, which is the danger list for us.

KILLING FIELDS; Sparrows on the brink of extinction as islands' hedgehogs face cull

Disappearance of the common house sparrow from the urban areas is not something new.

House sparrows facing extinction in Punjab

More than 64,000 birds across the country were counted from 60 different species, ranging from house sparrows and blue tits to siskins and kestrels.

Survey children told to watch the birdie

Even the house sparrow, formerly one of our most common urban birds, is finding it increasingly difficult to gain access to its traditional nest holes under the now sanitised eaves of buildings.