canary

plural canaries

1. countableuncountableA small, usually yellow, finch (genus Serinus), a songbird native to the Canary Islands.
2. countableuncountableAny of various small birds of different countries, most of which are largely yellow in colour.
3. countableinformaluncountableA female singer, soprano, a coloratura singer.
4. countableslanguncountableAn informer or snitch; a squealer.

   Synonyms: informant

5. countableuncountableA light, slightly greenish, yellow colour.
6. countableslanguncountableA (usually yellow) capsule of the short-acting barbiturate pentobarbital/pentobarbitone (nembutal).
7. AustraliacountableinformaluncountableA yellow sticker applied by the police to a vehicle to indicate it is unroadworthy.

   Yes, if the exhaust is to noisey^([sic]) they can slap a yellow canary on it, but the[n] who cares you got rid of it.

   1999 January 16, Garry Lawson, “Noisy Bikes (Update)”, in aus.motorcycles (Usenet)

   2 more examples

   The tendency in these types of situations (as far as I can see) is that because I don't think the act itself is illegal, the police will go through your vehicle systematically loking^([sic]) for anything wrong with it, to slap a canary on it (that's slang for an unroadworthy sticker) or present you with some other fine.

   1993 September 12, Jacco Zwetsloot, “Warning About Speed Traps”, in alt.folklore.urban (Usenet)

   You don't have to carry a spare wheel for a car to be roadworthy, and if you *do* carry one, it doesn't have to be in a roadworthy condition *unless* you fit it [to] the car and drive on it. / If it's not and you get pinched, expect a canary...

   2003 February 14, Noddy, “Spare tyres”, in aus.cars (Usenet)

8. countableuncountableAny test subject, especially an inadvertent or unwilling one. (From the mining practice of using canaries to detect dangerous gases.)
9. countableuncountablecomputingA value placed in memory such that it will be the first data corrupted by a buffer overflow, allowing the program to identify and recover from it.
10. countableuncountablecomputingA change that is tested by being rolled out first to a subset of machines or users before rolling out to all.
11. countableuncountableA light, sweet, white wine from the Canary Islands.

    Or maybe you'd accept iv a couple o' bottles of claret or canaries?

    1863, J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu, “In Which a Liberty Is Taken with Mr. Nutter’s Name, and Mr. Dangerfield Stands at the Altar”, in The House by the Church-yard. […], volume II, London: Tinsley, Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 234

    2 more examples

    Ile to my honeſt knight ſir Iohn Falſtaffe, / And drinke Canary with him.

    c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, […] [T]he Merrie Wiues of Windsor. […] (First Quarto), London: […] T[homas] C[reede] for Arthur Ihonson, […], published 1602, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]

    And though the annals of the period do not show us that there was less ale drawn, or less canary called for; men got dry with the heat of polemical discussion, and drunk with a text, not the fag end of a ballad, in their mouths; and people made a sort of morality of straight hair, long faces, and sad-coloured garments.

    1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 190

12. countableuncountableA lively dance, possibly of Spanish origin (also called canaries).

    […] I haue ſeen a medicine / That's able to breath life into a ſtone, / Quicken a rocke, and make you dance Canari / With ſprightly fire and motion, […]

    c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 235, column 2

    1 more example

    In an other corner, Mistris Minx, a marchants wife, that will eate no cherries, forsooth, but when they are at twentie shillings a pound, that lookes as simperingly as if she were besmeard, and iets it as gingerly as if she were dancing the canaries, […]

    1592, Thomas Nash[e], Pierce Penilesse His Supplication to the Deuill. […], London: […] [John Charlewood for] Richard Ihones, […], →OCLC

13. UKcountableobsoleteslanguncountableA sovereign (coin).
14. countableuncountablepublic transportA previously-issued ticket, retained by a ticket-seller, conductor or driver and resold to a subsequent passenger as a means of defrauding the transport company.

    She had previously been sacked ... for "selling canaries" - a practice in which drivers resell used tickets to passengers and keep the fare for themselves.

    2022 October 10, Matthew Backhouse, “Bus driver accused of pocketing fares compensated”, in The New Zealand Herald

15. UKcountableobsoleteslanguncountableA prisoner or convict.

comparative more canary · superlative most canary

1. Of a light yellow colour.

present singular third person canaries · participle present canarying · participle past canaried · past canaried

1. intransitiveTo dance nimbly (as in the canary dance).

   but to jig off a tune at / the tongue's end, canary to it with your feet,

   c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], line 11

2. slangTo inform or snitch, to betray secrets, especially about illegal activities.

   Synonyms: rat out

3. computingTo test a software change by rolling out to a small set of machines or users before making it available to all.

plural Canaries

1. ball gamesSomeone connected with Norwich City Football Club, as a fan, player, coach etc.

1. not comparablebusinessThat can be exercised on quarterly dates, a set time period (usually one year) after the issue date, and before the expiry date.

   Canary callable bonds are a type of step-up bond that is a hybrid structure, having elements of both Bermudan and European calls.

   2005, Gary Strumeyer, chapter 9, in Investing in Fixed Income Securities: Understanding the Bond Market, John Wiley & Sons

   2 more examples

   The canary bond is unique in that it is callable during the period before the security converts to a noncallable or bullet structure; the canary callable coupon can possess a step-up feature.

   2006, Ben Finkelstein, The Politics of Public Fund Investing: How to Modify Wall Street to Fit Main Street, Touchstone, page 123

   A (receiver) Canary swaption has two expiry dates 0 < θ₁ < θ₂ ≤ t₀ and involved two swaps Sⁱ (i = 1, 2) with cash -flows (t_(i,j), c_(i,j)) (1 ≤ j ≤ nᵢ).

   2006, Marc Henrard, Numerical integration for Canary swaptions in the gaussian HJM model, Bank for International Settlements, page 5