birdcage
Americannoun
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birdcages
plural
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a cage for confining birds.
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something that resembles a birdcage in form.
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Slang. the airspace over an airport, together with the airplanes in it.
noun
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a wire or wicker cage in which captive birds are kept
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any object of a similar shape, construction, or purpose
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an area on a racecourse where horses parade before a race
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informal a second-hand car dealer's yard
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of birdcage
First recorded in 1480–90; bird ( def. ) + cage ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But I bought an old, rusty metal birdcage the seller said was from France.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2026
Mindy is bracingly funny but also masculine enough to intimidate Jerry, the delicate peacock in this gilded birdcage.
From Salon ● May 29, 2025
In a rather tragic detail that feels straight out of a fable, Tiny Pinocchio was kept in a decorative metal birdcage when people visited the house to prevent him from accidentally getting squished.
From Slate ● Jul. 15, 2023
During one moment of digging, Volunteer Bekir Bicer uncovered a crushed birdcage, he said.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 8, 2023
Joseph glanced up to see a birdcage by the window, but there was no bird in the cage.
From "The Marvels" by Brian Selznick
Campione has become known for her unique specialism in dolls, doll houses, automata, birdcages and corkscrews.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2024
The centerpiece is a wooden canoe, carrying various “passengers,” including birdcages, antlers and children’s chairs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2023
When birds disappear, people open their birdcages and release their confused pets up to the sky.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 6, 2019
There are fin-de-siècle birdcages where car and shaft are unenclosed but for ornate wrought-iron gates and the ride brings a pleasant rush of vertigo.
From New York Times ● Dec. 15, 2017
The clay shards of the gunner’s jars littered the desert floor, along with the broken birdcages.
From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
