canary seed
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of canary seed
First recorded in 1590–1600
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.
He went shopping for canary seed and Polly, loose in the pet shop, settled on his shoulder and said, 'Pretty boy, I love you so.'
From Time Magazine Archive
Mr. Punt crooned out the impious aspiration as he sorted a judicious modicum of hemp into the canary seed.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 156, January 29, 1919 by Various
"Only," added Susan, "I must buy Dicky's canary seed."
From The Stokesley Secret by Yonge, Charlotte Mary
Give nothing to healthy birds but rape, hemp, canary seed, water, cuttle-fish bone, and gravel, paper or sand on floor of cage.
From The Handy Cyclopedia of Things Worth Knowing A Manual of Ready Reference by Triemens, Joseph
As Biddy often declared, "it was a great saving of canary seed, to have Miss Natalie about the house."
From Natalie A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds by Vale, Ferna
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.
