catbird

[ kat-burd ]

/ ˈkætˌbɜrd /

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noun

any of several American or Australian birds having catlike cries, especially Dumetella carolinensis(gray catbird ), of North America.

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Origin of catbird

An Americanism dating back to 1700–10; cat + bird

Words nearby catbird

catastrophize, catatonia, catatonic, catawampus, Catawba, catbird, catbird seat, catboat, catbrier, cat-built, cat burglar

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use catbird in a sentence

“Putin's aim is to show that he is in the catbird seat, and there is nothing we can do about it,” this former officer said.
U.S. Spies Said No Russian Invasion of Ukraine—Putin Disagreed|Eli Lake, Christopher Dickey|March 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
You might have thought that with Borders shutting down, Barnes and Noble would be sitting in the catbird seat.
Why Is Barnes and Noble Getting Out of the Bookstore Business?|Megan McArdle|February 6, 2013|DAILY BEAST
There's no question that Republicans are sitting in the catbird's seat.
Barack Obama and the Democrats Need to Take a Stand for Jobs|Michael Tomasky|June 13, 2011|DAILY BEAST
He never has those fine intervals of lunacy into which his cousins, the catbird and the mavis, are apt to fall.
The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886|Ministry of Education

There is no whine of the panther, no whistle of the catbird, nor any invention of the devilish Mingoes, that can cheat me!
The Last of the Mohicans|James Fenimore Cooper
Then a catbird and a brown thrush sang against a grosbeak and a hermit thrush.
A Girl Of The Limberlost|Gene Stratton Porter
All its habits are similar to our Catbird, and like that species, it is given to imitating the notes of other birds.
Bird Guide: Land Birds East of the Rockies|Chester A. (Chester Albert) Reed
A Catbird hopped lightly in the shadow of the tool-house, and I suspect some Robins of foraging turn with their young families.
Birds and all Nature, Vol. IV, No. 1, July 1898|Various

British Dictionary definitions for catbird

catbird

/ (ˈkætˌbɜːd) /

noun

any of several North American songbirds of the family Mimidae (mockingbirds), esp Dumetella carolinensis, whose call resembles the mewing of a cat

any of several Australian bowerbirds of the genera Ailuroedus and Scenopoeetes, having a catlike call

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