kingfisher
[king-fish-er]
- any of numerous fish- or insect-eating birds of the family Alcedinidae that have a large head and a long, stout bill and are usually crested and brilliantly colored.
Origin of kingfisher
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for kingfisher
Contemporary Examples
For The Kingfisher River Bank, Potter killed a whole family of kingfishers (and seized seven of their eggs).
Historical Examples
The kingfisher makes its nest of the bones of the fish which it has eaten.
Contributions to the Theory of Natural SelectionAlfred Russel Wallace
A kingfisher was sitting on it, when we came along, and flew off with a screech.
Boy Scouts on Hudson BayG. Harvey Ralphson
It was with great difficulty that Kingfisher seized him and brought him to land.
He thought he had marked the spot where the kingfisher had dived into the bank.
Orpheus in Mayfair and Other Stories and SketchesMaurice Baring
The great or broad-billed jacamar is very like a kingfisher.
The Western WorldW.H.G. Kingston
kingfisher
- any coraciiform bird of the family Alcedinidae, esp the Eurasian Alcedo atthis, which has a greenish-blue and orange plumage. Kingfishers have a large head, short tail, and long sharp bill and tend to live near open water and feed on fish
Word Origin
C15: originally king's fisher
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for kingfisher
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper