Bird. World English Historical Dictionary

Bird. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1888, rev. 2024. Bird Forms: 1–5 brid, 1 north. bird, 3–5 bridd, 3–6 bryd, 4–5 bridde, bred(e, 4 berd, 4–6 byrd(e, 5 brydde, 5–7 birde, 5– dial. brid, 5– bird. Pl. birds: formerly briddas, -es, -is, -ys, -us; birdas, -es. [ME. byrd, bryd:—OE. brid masc. (pl. briddas), in Northumbrian bird, birdas ‘offspring, young,’ but used only of the young of birds. There is no corresponding form in any other Teutonic lang., and the etymology is unknown. If native Teut., it would represent an original *bridjo-z: this cannot be derived from BROOD, BREED, and even the suggestion that it may be formed like these from the root *bru- (see BROOD) appears to be quite inadmissible.]

1   † I.  1. orig. The general name for the young of the feathered tribes; a young bird; a chicken, eaglet, etc.; a nestling. The only sense in OE.; found in literature down to 1600; still retained in north. dial. as ‘a hen and her birds.’

2 a. 800.  Corpus Gl. (O. E. Texts), 1687. Pullus, brid.

3 c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Luke ii. 24. Twa turtlan oððe tweʓen culfran briddas [Lindisf. & Rushw. birdas, Hatton briddes].

4 a. 1100.  in Wr.-Wülcker, Voc., 318. Pullus, cicen oððe brid.

5 c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 49. Duue fedeð briddes.

6 a. 1300.  E. E. Psalter lxxxiii[iv]. 4. And þe turtil [findes] … a neste Þar he mai with his briddes [Wyclif, briddis, bryddis] reste.

7 1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XI. 348. Some … bredden, and brouȝten forth her bryddes so · al aboue þe grounde.

8 1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 13. He … cheryssheth vs, as the egle her byrdes.

9 1592.  Warner, Alb. Eng., VIII. cxli. (1597), 200. The Pellicane theare neasts his Bird.

10 1593.  Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., II. i. 91. That Princely Eagles Bird.

11 1822.  Galt, Entail, lxv. The craw thinks its ain bird the whitest.

12   † b.  The young of other animals. Obs.

13 1388.  Wyclif, Matt. xxiii. 33. Ȝe eddris, and eddris briddis.

14 1398.  Trevisa, Barth De P. R., XII. v. (1495), 415. In temperat yeres ben fewe byrdes of been [= bees]. Ibid., XIII. xxvi. (1495), 458. All fysshe … fede and kepe theyr byrdes.

15 c. 1440.  Gesta Rom., I. vii. 16. A serpent—made his nest … and broȝt forthe his briddis there.

16 1591.  Bruce, 11 Serm., Y viij a (Jam.). They wald ever be handled as Tods birds.

17 1597.  Act 7 Jas. I., 1427 (title), The Woolfe and Woolfe-birdes suld be slaine.

18   † c.  transf. A young man, youngster, child, son. Obs. (In later times only fig.: cf. chick, chicken.)

19 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 22381. [Anticrist] þat ilk warlau bridd [Fairf. warlagh brid, Trin. bulke fendes brid]. Ibid., 9811. Qua-sum on suilk a bird [Jesus] wald thinc [Gött. brid].

20 c. 1330.  Amis & Amil., 15. The bordes bold of chere.

21 1559.  Homilies, I. Good Wks., II. (1859), 54. To follow his own phantasie, and (as you woulde saye) to fauoure his owne byrde.

22 1566.  Knox, Hist. Ref., Wks. 1846, I. 125. His bastard byrdis bear some witness.

23 1571.  Scot. Poems 16th C. (1801), II. 280. Thea dispard birds of Beliall.

24   d.  A maiden, a girl. [In this sense bird was confused with burde, BURD, originally a distinct word, perhaps also with bryd(e BRIDE; but later writers understand it as fig. sense of 1 or 2.]

25 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 7131. [Delilah] þat birde [v.r. bride, bryde, bruyd] was biddande bald. Ibid., 10077. [Mary] þat blisful bird [v.r. berde, byrd, buyrde] of grace.

26 c. 1325.  E. E. Allit. P., A. 768. Maskellez bryd þat bryȝt con flambe.

27 c. 1400.  Ywaine & Gaw., 3313. That he ne might wed that bird bright.

28 c. 1485.  Digby Myst. (1882), III. 356. Ȝe bewtews byrd [Luxuria], I must yow kysse.

29 1611.  Shaks., Cymb., IV. ii. 197. The Bird is dead That we haue made so much on.

30 1804.  Campbell, Ld. Ullin’s Dau., vi. And by my word! the bonny bird In danger shall not tarry.

31 1816.  Scott, Old Mort., xli. ‘Peggy, my bonny bird,’… addressing a little girl of twelve years old.

32   2.  Any feathered vertebrate animal: a member of the second class (Aves) of the great Vertebrate group, the species of which are most nearly allied to the Reptiles, but distinguished by their warm blood, feathers, and adaptation of the fore limbs as wings, with which most species fly in the air.

33   Now used generically in place of the older name FOWL, which has become specialized for certain kinds of poultry, and by sportsmen for wild ducks and wild geese. In this sense, bird, ME. brid, is found in the south c. 1300; it appears to have been extended from the young of birds (sense 1) at first to the smaller kinds, Chaucer’s ‘smale foules.’ So late as a century ago, Dr. Johnson says (1755–73) ‘In common talk fowl is used for the larger, and bird for the smaller kind of feathered animals’; and this distinction still obtains to some extent dialectally. (In Scotland large birds e.g., hawks, herons, are ‘fowls,’ small birds, as well as chickens, are ‘birds.’) A further process of specialization (cf. the histories of fowl, deer, beast), seems still to be in progress in regard to bird, as witness its technical use by game preservers (sense 3).

34 a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 102. Eni totilde ancre … þet bekeð euer utward ase untowe brid ine cage. Ibid., 134. Þeos briddes habbeð nestes.

35 c. 1385.  Chaucer, L. G. W., 1753. On morwe, whanne the brid began to synge.

36 1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. xxviii. (1495), 138. Amonge birdes the popyniaye and the pellycan vse the fote in stede of an honde.

37 c. 1432–50.  trans. Higden (1865), I. 99. A brydde callede fenix.

38 1475.  Bk. Noblesse, 59. By augures and divinacions of briddis.

39 1526.  Tindale, Matt. viii. 20. The bryddes of the aier have nestes.

40 1613.  Shaks., Hen. VIII., IV. i. 89. The Rod, and Bird of Peace, and all such Emblemes.

41 1631.  T. Powell, Tom All Trades, 166. As free as bird in ayre.

42 1770.  M. Bruce, Cuckoo, v. Sweet bird! thy bower is ever green.

43 1798.  Coleridge, Anc. Mar., V. He loved the bird that loved the man Who shot him with his bow.

44 1850.  Tennyson, In Mem., cxiv. The happy birds that change their sky To build and brood.

45   3.  Sport. A game bird; with game-preservers spec. a partridge. fig. Prey, object of attack.

46 1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., V. ii. 46. Am I your Bird, I meane to shift my bush.

47 1609.  Dekker, Lanth. & Candle-Lt., Wks. 1884–5, III. 243. The Bird that is preid vpon, is Money.

48 1833.  M. Scott, Tom Cringle, II. iv. 161. The lieutenant, or second in command, was my bird, and I had disabled him by a sabre-cut on the sword-arm.

49 1877.  Daily News, 1 Oct., 5/1. It is impossible to avoid admiring the bird—for although the partridge has usurped the designation, after all the pheasant is a bird—which can inspire such masterpieces of felonious skill.

50 Mod.  Reports from the northern moors say the birds are very wild.

51   4.  In various fig. applications, chiefly from sense 2; as in reference to the winged or noiseless flight, or soaring of birds; to their confinement in cages (cf. GAOL-BIRD); to their song; to the Latin rara avis rare fowl, rarity. Arabian bird = phœnix.

52 1588.  Marprel. Epist. (Arb.), 30. I hope to see you in for a bird.

53 1593.  Pass. Morrice, 79. She song ere long like a bird of Bedlam.

54 1597.  Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., V. v. 113. We beare our Ciuill Swords … As farre as France. I heare a Bird so sing. Ibid. (1606), Ant. &. Cl., III. ii. 12. Oh Anthony, oh thou Arabian Bird! Ibid. (1610), Temp., IV. i. 184. Prosp. This was well done (my bird).

55 c. 1799.  Miss Rose, in Rose, Diaries (1860), I. 212. There were strange birds getting about my father.

56 1833.  Marryat, P. Simple, xxxix. A little bird has whispered a secret to me.

57 1875.  B. Taylor, Faust, I. xvi. 159. There must be such queer birds however.

58   5.  Phrases. † A bird of one’s own brain: a conception of one’s own. † The bird in the bosom: one’s own secret or pledge, one’s conscience. Birds of a (= one) feather: those of like character. † John Grey’s bird (see quot.).

59 1550.  Hall, Chron., 2. Saiyng, when he was diyng: I haue saued the birde in my bosome: meaning that he had kept both his promise and othe.

60 c. 1575.  Gascoigne, Fruites Warre, cxxxi. The Greene knight was amongst the rest Like John Greyes birde that ventured withe the best.

61 1580.  in Hazlitt, Prov. (1869), 263. Perceiving them to cluster togither like John Grayes bird, ut dicitur, who always loved company.

62 1594.  T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., II. 523. I take it to be a bird of their owne braine.

63 1600.  Holland, Livy, XXVI. xl. 615. As commonly birds of a feather will flye together.

64 1608.  D. T[uvill], Ess. Pol. & Mor., 90 b. A prying eye, a listning eare, and a prating tongue are all birds of one wing.

65 1632.  D. Lupton, Lond. & Carbon., 57. The Iayler & Broker are Birds of a feather, the one Imprisons the Body, the other the Cloaths.

66 1757.  W. Thompson, R. N. Advoc., 13, note. Birds of a Feather flock together.

67 1818.  Scott, Hrt. Midl., xxxii. I trow thou be’st a bird of the same feather. Ibid. (1820), Abbot, viii. Thou hast kept well … the bird in thy bosom.

68   6.  In many proverbial expressions.

69 c. 1440.  Generydes, 4524. Some bete the bussh and some the byrdes take.

70 1523.  Skelton, Garl. Laurel, 1452. Who may have a more ungracious lyfe Than a chyldis bird and a knavis wyfe? Ibid. (a. 1529), Agst. Garnesche, 197. That byrd ys nat honest That fylythe hys owne nest.

71 c. 1530.  R. Hilles, Com.-pl. Bk. (1858), 140. A byrde yn honde ys better than three yn the wode.

72 c. 1530.  H. Rhodes, Bk. Nurture, 579, in Babees Bk. (1868), 98. A byrd in hand … is worth ten flye at large.

73 c. 1600.  Timon, IV. ii. (1842), 62. Tis well.—An olde birde is not caught with chaffe.

74 1652.  Ashmole, Theatr. Chem., lxii. 225. A Chyldys Byrde, and a Chorlys Wyfe, Hath ofte sythys sorow and mischaunce.

75 1655.  Gurnall, Chr. in Arm. (1845), 46. Man … knows not his time … he comes when the bird is flown.

76 1656.  Hobbes, Liberty, etc. (1841), 117. T. H. thinks to kill two birds with one stone, and satisfy two arguments with one answer.

77 1823.  Galt, Entail, lvi. It’s a foul bird that files it’s ain nest.

78 Prov.  The early bird catches the worm.

79   II.  In combinations.

80   7.  With some defining word connected by of, as bird of Jove, the eagle; bird of Juno, the peacock; also, a hawk; bird of paradise, a bird belonging to the family Paradiseidæ, found chiefly in New Guinea, and remarkable for the beauty of their plumage; Bird of passage, any migratory bird; bird of Washington, the American Eagle (Falco leucocephalus); bird of wonder, the phœnix.

81 1613.  Shaks., Hen. VIII., V. v. 41. The Bird of Wonder dyes, the Mayden Phoenix.

82 1620.  Melton, Astrolog., 21. Impostors … like the Birds of Wonder, flye the light of the Citie.

83 [1625.  Purchas, Pilgrims, II. vii. They brought vs … two Paradice Birds.]

84 1638.  Wilkins, New World, I. (1684), 175. The Birds of Paradise … reside Constantly in the Air.

85 1667.  Milton, P. L., XI. 185. The Bird of Jove, stoopt from his acrie tour.

86 1733.  Pope, Song Person Qual. See the bird of Juno stooping.

87 1791.  E. Darwin, Bot. Gard., II. 26, note. The arrival of certain birds of passage.

88 1850.  Jrnl. Ind. Archipel., IV. 182. The birds of paradise are natives of New Guinea.

89 1868.  Wood, Homes without H., xxviii. 532. The well known Bald-headed Eagle, sometimes called the Bird of Washington.

90   8.  General combinations: a. objective with pres. pple., vbl. sb., or agent-noun, as bird-alluring, -angler, † -batting (= BAT-FOWLING), -catcher, -catching, -echoing, -fancier, -netting, -seller, -stuffer, -stuffing, -tenting. b. instrumental, as bird-conjurer, -divination, -diviner, -ridden, † -speller. c. parasynthetic and similative, as bird-eyed, -fingered. d. attrib. (of or pertaining to birds), as bird-architecture, -chorus, -flight, -music; (connected with the scaring, catching, selling or training of birds), as bird-boy, -fair, -man, -net, -pole, -shop. Also bird-like, adj.

91 1653.  Walton, Angler, xi. 206. This *Bird-Angler standing upon the top of a steeple to [catch swallows].

92 1742.  Fielding, J. Andrews, II. x. *Bird-batting … is performed by holding a large clap-net before a lanthorn, and at the same time beating the bushes.

93 1850.  Househ. Wds., I. 545. You shall be *bird-boy when the sowing season comes on.

94 1580.  Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong., Pippe, a little pipe the which *bird catchers doe vse.

95 1687.  R. L’Estrange, Answ. Diss., 7. The Skill and Address of *Bird-catching.

96 1382.  Wyclif, Deut. xviii. 14. Thes gentils … *brydd coniurers and dyuynours heren. Ibid., Jer. xxvii. 9. Sweueneres, and *brid deuyneres.

97 1670.  Gale, Crt. Gentiles, II. III. 68. Now this *Bird-divination was gathered chiefly by the flying or singing of Birds.

98 1590.  Pasquil’s Apol., I. C iij. The fellowe is *bird eyed, he startles and snuffes at euery shadow.

99 1773.  Barrington, in Phil. Trans., LXIII. 283. The *bird-fanciers will not keep them.

100 1587.  Golding, De Mornay, xvii. 270. Reteyning nothing … of her *birdlike nature.

101 1876.  Geo. Eliot, Dan. Der., VIII. lxi. 550. His bird-like hope … soared again.

102 1697.  Lond. Gaz., No. 3269/4. At Black Joe’s, the German *Bird-man … canary-birds.

103 1729.  M. Browne, Pisc. Eclog., VIII. (1773), 119. The Fisher on the green-sea-deep, And *Birdsman in the osier copse.

104 1796.  Morse, Amer. Geog., II. 17. The *birdmen or climbers … bringing away the birds and their eggs.

105 1533–4.  Act 25 Hen. VIII., vii. By means of any wele, butte, net, *berd net of heare.

106 1571.  Golding, Calvin on Ps. xiv. 4. *Birdspellers and other heathen soothsayers.

107 1835.  Beckford, Recoll., 163. These *bird-ridden dominions.

108 1861.  Du Chaillu, Equat. Afr., xv. 274. After dinner *bird-stuffing goes on.

109 1864.  Times, 19 May, 8/5. *‘Bird-tenting’ in England means shooting birds or scaring them away. ‘Bird-tenting’ in Australia means preserving birds with the most assiduous care in public institutions.

110   9.  Special comb.: bird-call, an instrument for imitating the note of birds, in order to attract or decoy them; Bird- (or bird’s) cherry, a wild fruit tree or shrub (Prunus Padus) bearing a small astringent drupe; but formerly, the Wild Cherry (P. Avium); Bird-fly, a fly (Ornithomyia) which lives under the plumage of birds; bird-fountain, a glass vessel of special construction for caged birds to drink out of; † bird-gaze, auspice; † bird-gazer, an augur; bird-mouthed a., having a mouth like a bird; hence, unwilling to speak out, inclined to mince matters (obs.); † Bird-nut, a variety of walnut; bird-organ, a small organ used in teaching birds to sing; Bird-pepper, kinds of capsicum (C. baccatum and frutescens); bird-seed, canary-seed, hemp, millet, plantain, or other seeds given to caged birds; bird-spit, a spit for roasting birds on, † fig. a rapier; bird-witted a., lacking the faculty of attention, flitting from subject to subject. Also BIRD-BOLT, BIRD-CAGE.

111 a. 1625.  Fletcher, Bl. Brother, IV. ii. ’Tis Pippeau That is your *bird-call.

112 1773.  Barrington, in Phil. Trans., LXIII. 272. Easily imposed upon by that most imperfect of all instruments, a bird-call.

113 1597.  Gerard, Herbal, III. cxxx. § 9. The Birds Cherry-tree, or the blacke Cherry-tree … vsed for stockes to graft other Cherries vpon.

114 1863.  Kingsley, Water Bab. (ed. 2), 15. The *bird-cherry with its tassels of snow.

115 c. 1865.  Letheby, in Circ. Sc., I. 110/1. Constructed on the principle of the *bird-fountain.

116 1587.  Golding, De Mornay, xxii. 335. Cato wondered how two *Birdgazers could meet … or looke one vpon another without laughing.

117 1610.  Healey, St. Aug. Citie of God, 746. They [the disciples] were not *bird-mouthed unto him [Christ].

118 1837.  Galt, in Fraser’s Mag., XVI. 24. I am not deemed bird-mouthed on peremptory occasions.

119 1676.  Worlidge, Cyder (1691), 227. Called the *Bird-nut, from the resemblance the kernel hath to a bird, with its wings displayed … after the nut is slit in the middle.

120 1786.  P. Browne, Jamaica, 176. *Bird Pepper. The capsule and seeds … are used by most people in these colonies.

121 1607.  Miseries Enf. Marr., in Hazl., Dodsl., IX. 563. Put up your *bird-spit, tut, I fear it not.

122 1605.  Bacon, Adv. Learning, II. (1861), 228. If a child be *bird-witted, that is, hath not the faculty of attention, the Mathematics giveth a remedy thereunto.

123 1658.  Ussher, Ann., vi. 360. [He] proved … but a *bird-witted man.

124   10.  Combinations of bird’s (chiefly similative): a. gen., as bird’s-beak moulding (see quot.); bird’s-mouth, an interior or re-entrant angle cut out of the end of a piece of timber.

125 1823.  P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 191. Fitted … to its bearings, and to the newel, with a re-entrant angle, or bird’s mouth.

126 1862.  Rickman, Goth. Archit., 15. The most complex of all mouldings is the birds-beak.

127 1876.  Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., Bird’s-beak moulding, a moulding which in section forms an ovolo or ogee with or without a fillet under it followed by a hollow.

128   b.  esp. in plant-names; e.g., Bird’s bill, Trigonella ornithorhynchus; Bird’s bread, the Small Yellow Stone-crop (Sedum acre); Bird’s eggs, the Bladder Campion (Silene inflata); Bird’s Orchis; Bird’s Pease; Bird’s tare, a species of Arachis; Bird’s tongue, applied to numerous plants, usually in reference to the shape of their leaves, as the Greater Stitchwort (Stellaria holostea), the Common Maple, Scarlet Pimpernel, Great Fen Ragwort (Senecio paludosus), Ornithoglossum; also the fruit of the ash-tree. See also BIRD’S EYE, BIRD’S FOOT, BIRD’S NEST.

129 1597.  Gerard, Herbal, I. cxiii. (1633), 213. *Birds Orchis. The flowers … like in shape unto little birds, with their wings spread abroad ready to fly.

130 1713.  J. Petiver, in Phil. Trans., XXVIII. 211. Winged *Birds Pease or Ochre.

131 1597.  Gerard, Herbal, Table Supp., *Birds Tongue is Stitch-wort. Ibid., II. clxi. Knot grasse is called … in the North Birds tongue.

132 1770.  Withering, Brit. Plants (1830), III. xix. 939. Senecio paludosus. *Bird’s-tongue Groundsel.

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