Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Showing results for bowerbird. Search instead for bowerbirds.

bowerbird

American  
[bou-er-burd] / ˈbaʊ ərˌbɜrd /

noun

  1. any of several oscine birds of the family Ptilonorhynchidae, of Australia, New Guinea, and adjacent islands, the males of which build bowerlike, decorated structures to attract the females.

bowerbird British  
/ ˈbaʊəˌbɜːd /

noun

  1. any of various songbirds of the family Ptilonorhynchidae, of Australia and New Guinea. The males build bower-like display grounds in the breeding season to attract the females

  2. informal a person who collects miscellaneous objects

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of bowerbird

First recorded in 1840–50; bower 1 + bird

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.