chiffchaff
[chif-chaf, -chahf]
- a common, greenish Old World warbler, Phylloscopus collybita.
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Origin of chiffchaff
First recorded in 1770–80; gradational compound; imitative
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for chiffchaff
Historical Examples
Lastly, we have the Chiffchaff, certainly the rarest and most local of all.
Among the Birds in Northern ShiresCharles Dixon
The chiffchaff uttered his clear yet rather sad notes on April 26.
Field and HedgerowRichard Jefferies
This name, however, is probably equally applicable to the Chiffchaff.
Birds of Guernsey (1879)Cecil Smith
Chiffchaff and willow-wren came as usual, but they did not arrive in a crowd at once.
Nature Near LondonRichard Jefferies
Only a very few days since—it does not seem a week—there was a chiffchaff calling in a copse as merrily as in the spring.
Nature Near LondonRichard Jefferies
chiffchaff
- a common European warbler, Phylloscopus collybita, with a yellowish-brown plumage
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Word Origin
C18: imitative of its call
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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