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cowbird

cow·bird
C c

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [kou-burd]
    • /ˈkaʊˌbɜrd/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [kou-burd]
    • /ˈkaʊˌbɜrd/

Definitions of cowbird word

  • noun cowbird any of various American orioles of the genera Molothrus, Tangavius, etc, esp M. ater (common or brown-headed cowbird). They have a dark plumage and short bill 3
  • noun cowbird any of a number of small American blackbirds (esp. Molothrus ater) often seen near cattle: cowbirds lay eggs in other birds' nests 3
  • noun cowbird any of several New World blackbirds of the genus Molothrus, especially M. ater, of North America, that accompany herds of cattle. 1
  • noun cowbird A New World songbird with dark plumage and a relatively short bill, typically laying its eggs in other birds' nests. 1
  • noun cowbird A small North American blackbird (Molothrus ater) that lays its eggs in the nests of other birds. 0

Information block about the term

Origin of cowbird

First appearance:

before 1795
One of the 43% newest English words
An Americanism dating back to 1795-1805; cow1 + bird

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Cowbird

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

cowbird popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 68% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.
This word is included in each student's vocabulary. Most likely there is at least one movie with this word in the title.

cowbird usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Top questions with cowbird

  • what does a cowbird look like?
  • what is a cowbird?
  • what is cowbird?

See also

Matching words

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