bird

plural birds

1. An animal of the clade (traditionally class) Aves in the phylum Chordata, characterized by being warm-blooded, having feathers and wings usually capable of flight, having a beaked mouth, and laying eggs.

   Ducks and sparrows are birds.

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   The level below this is called the Phylum; birds belong to the Phylum Chordata, which includes all the vertebrate animals (the sub-phylum Vertebrata) and a few odds and ends.

   2004, Bruce Whittington, Loucas Raptis, Seasons with Birds, page 50

   Synonyms: avian, fowl, feathered friend, feathered folk

2. obsoleteAny winged animal.
3. obsoleteA young bird, a nestling.

   That ungentle gull, the cuckoo's bird.

   c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]

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   […] the foxes have holes, and the brydds of the aier have nestes, but [t]he sonne of the man hath not where onto leye his heede: […]

   1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Matthew viij:[20], folio x, recto

4. datedslangA man, fellow.First known use mid-19th c.

   "Ah, he's a funny bird," said Phaedra, throwing a leg over the sill.

   2006, Jeff Fields, Terry Kay, A cry of angels

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   He once took in his own mother, and was robbed by a 'pal,' who thought he was a doctor. Oh, he's a rare bird is 'Gentleman Joe'!

   1886, Edmund Routledge, Routledge's every boy's annual

   "What I mean - I expect that old, red-headed bird at the office sent you round with no other purpose."

   1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019

   The door opened and a tall hungry-looking bird with a cane and a big nose came in neatly, shut the door behind him against the pressure of the door closer, marched over to the desk and placed a wrapped parcel on the desk.

   1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, published 2011, page 24

   "But you think he's right?" "Could be. They're rum birds, all right."

   1957, Sydney J. Bounds, The Robot Brains, London: Digit Books, page 35

   Synonyms: bloke, chap, guy, bloke, boy, bro, broski, bruh

5. IrelandUKcolloquialA girl or woman, especially one considered sexually attractive.

   And by my word! the bonny bird / In danger shall not tarry.

   1809, Thomas Campbell, Lord Ullin's Daughter

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   After tea, the bright boys wash, clean their boots, and change into their “second-best” attire, and stroll forth[…]; sometimes to saunter, in company with others, up and down that parade until they “click” with one of the “birds.”

   1918 [1915], Thomas Burke, Nights in London, New York: Henry Holt and Company, page 75

   Are you calling me “darlin’”? / Are you calling me “bird”?

   2007, Jules De Martino, Katie White, “That's Not My Name”, performed by The Ting Tings

   The usual visual grammar was in place – a carpet in the street, people in paddocks awaiting a brush with something glamorous, blokes with earpieces, birds in frocks of colliding colours that if sighted in nature would indicate the presence of poison.

   2013 September 13, Russell Brand, “Russell Brand and the GQ awards: 'It's amazing how absurd it seems'”, in The Guardian

   “All these fantastic birds, long hair, made up, false eyelashes and things, crowding round this group of scabby, spotty teenagers,” marveled Anderson.

   2017, David Weigel, The Show That Never Ends: The Rise and Fall of Prog Rock, W. W. Norton & Company

   Synonyms: broad, chick, dame, lass, babe, bint, cake, chick

   1. IrelandUKbroadlycolloquialA girlfriend.First known use early 20th c.

      Mike went out with his bird last night.

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      But all of a sudden though, just through the smoke / It's your bird laughing and joking with a bloke / Ain't just that either, as she moves closer / In a shape what looks like they're lovers, he's tonguing her!

      2002, “Geezers need excitement”, in Mike Skinner (lyrics), Original Pirate Material, performed by The Streets

      Synonyms: broad, chick, dame, lass, babe, bint, cake, chick

6. slangAn aircraft.

   Any of our birds squawking?

   2007 September 25, Bungie, Halo 3, spoken by Miranda Keyes (Justis Bolding), Microsoft Game Studios, Xbox 360, level/area: Crow's Nest

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   “Cabin cleaners? They have worked on this bird. Don't you know you've always got to clean up after the cleaners? What they don't teach you in school these days.”

   1967, Trudy Baker, Rachel Jones, Donald Bain (uncredited), Coffee, Tea, or Me?: The Uninhibited Memoirs of Two Airline Stewardesses, New York: Bantam Books, page 10

7. slangA satellite.

   Will a government- backed APSTAR satellite knock out a planned AsiaSat II bird?

   1992, Cable Vision

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   Deployment of the fourth bird "should ensure that Inmarsat has sufficient capacity in orbit in the early 1990s, taking into account the possibility of launch failures and the age of some of the spacecraft in the Inmarsat first generation system

   1988, Satellite communications. Jan-Oct. 1988

   In reality, the Air Force was never able to place a bird in orbit that quickly.

   2015, John Fuller, Thor's Legions: Weather Support to the U.S. Air Force and Army, 1937-1987, Springer, →ISBN, page 384

8. UKwith definite articleBooing and jeering, especially as done by an audience expressing displeasure at a performer.

   to give the bird

9. with definite articleThe vulgar hand gesture in which the middle finger is extended.

   to flip the bird

   2 more examples

   2002, The Advocate, "Flying fickle finger of faith", page 55. For whatever reason — and there are so many to chose from — they flipped the bird in the direction of the tinted windows of the Bushmobile.

   Then she raised both hands above her shoulders and flipped him the bird with each one.

   2003, James Patterson, Peter de Jonge, The Beach House, Warner Books, page 305

   Synonyms: the finger

10. A yardbird.
11. USslangA kilogram of cocaine.

    Never dirt on my knees I'm just serving these fiends Sell birds to the bees I sell birds to the trees

    2015 January 12, Lil Wayne, “Sh!t” (track 2), in Sorry 4 the Wait 2

    Synonyms: chicken, brick

12. CanadaPhilippinesslangA penis.

    BUBBLES: One time I was making a model and I glued the wing to a B17 bomber to my bird by accident.

    2004 May 9, Mike Clattenburg, Mike Smith (actor), 05:29 from the start, in Trailer Park Boys(Conky), season 4, episode 5 (TV series), spoken by Bubbles (Mike Smith)

13. informalSnowbird (retiree who moves to a warmer climate).

present singular third person birds · participle present birding · participle past birded · past birded

1. intransitiveTo observe or identify wild birds in their natural environment.
2. intransitiveTo catch or shoot birds; to hunt birds.
3. figurativelyintransitiveTo seek for game or plunder; to thieve.

   MAMMON: These day-owls. SURLY: That are birding in men's purses

   1610 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, The Alchemist, London: […] Thomas Snodham, for Walter Burre, and are to be sold by Iohn Stepneth, […], published 1612, →OCLC, (please specify the Internet Archive page), (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)

4. transitivebroadcastingTo transmit via satellite.

   After being sent by fast car to Tel Aviv the cassettes would be 'birded' by satellite to the USA and London.

   2012, Yoel Cohen, Media Diplomacy, page 127

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   Unless the TV crew has its own flyaway, the locals can still defeat a story they couldn't prevent reporters from covering by cutting it off at the pass, when it is being birded through their facilities.

   1995, David D. Pearce, Wary Partners: Diplomats and the Media, page 43

comparative rare birdier · rare superlative birdiest

1. CanadacolloquialAble to be passed with very little work; having the nature of a bird course.

   SOC100 isn’t bird at all lol. But ANT101 is super easy & the prof (Dr. Sherry Fukuzawa) is amazing.

   2020 October 16, illegalsalt, “Thoughts on these bird courses”, in Reddit, r/UTM

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   but admittedly, all the hours spent creating excel sheets optimizing my course plan, all the research finding the absolutely best professors, all the smart friends i made, all the alumni i contacted to collect crowdmarks of past exams, all the research i did finding the birdiest courses of all...... all of it was wayyyyyy more fun to me than just sitting down and studying like a normal kid. it was kind of just like playing a video game.

   2022 June 17, ConradIsMyDaddy, “How to Graduate from the University of Waterloo's Computer Science Program with the Least Amount of Effort”, in Reddit, r/uwaterloo

1. slanguncountableA prison sentence.

   He’s doing bird.

   1 more example

   Well, I’ll do my bird - I can ‘andle it, bird’s never been no trouble for me - and then I’ll get you.

   2012, Theodore Dalrymple, If Symptoms Persist

   Synonyms: porridge, stretch, time

present singular third person birds · participle present birding · participle past birded · past birded

1. slangtransitiveTo bring into prison, to roof.

   Free Criminal, he got birded That's a L but I know he’ll firm it I was vexed when I heard that verdict

   2017, “No Hook”, ZK & Digga D (lyrics), CDM (music)

alternative Byrd

1. A surname.
2. jazzNickname of Charlie Parker (1920–1955), jazz saxophonist.

   When Bird played like that, it was like hearing music for the first time. I'd never heard anybody play like that. Later Sonny Rollins and I would try to do things like that, and me and Trane, those short, hard bursts of musical phrases. But when Bird played like that, he was outrageous…

   2012, John Szwed, quoting Miles Davis, So What: The Life of Miles Davis, arrow books, →ISBN