cage bird
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of cage bird
First recorded in 1620–30
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.
It is familiar to every one as a cage bird.
From Birds of the Indian Hills by Dewar, Douglas
The cage bird whispers, "Come hither, let us both live in the cage."
From My Reminiscences by Hesh, Sasi Kumar
My father has presented me with a beautiful house here - or so I believe, for I have not yet seen it, being a cage bird but for nocturnal sorties in the garden.
From Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson — Volume 1 by Stevenson, Robert Louis
This is one of the species most usually kept in Europe as a cage bird.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 6 "Cockaigne" to "Columbus, Christopher" by Various
Be no cage bird who will not fly out into the sunlight when the door is opened freely.
From A Friend of Caesar A Tale of the Fall of the Roman Republic. Time, 50-47 B.C. by Davis, William Stearns
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.