chipping sparrow

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noun

a small, North American sparrow, Spizella passerina, common in urban areas.

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Origin of chipping sparrow

An Americanism dating back to 1785–95; chip² + -ing²

Words nearby chipping sparrow

chipper, Chippewa, Chippewa Falls, Chippeway, chipping, chipping sparrow, chipproof, chippy, chipset, chip shot, chip wagon

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

How to use chipping sparrow in a sentence

“No eyes are on the sparrow, eyes are on the sparrow / He is singing anyway.”
Is Bigger Better for St. Vincent?|David Yaffe|December 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
While chipping away plaster from his kitchen wall, the Guatemalan man unearthed a series of centuries-old Mayan murals.
7 Historically Significant Artifacts Rescued by Happenstance|The Daily Beast|October 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Chipping away on the comedy circuit could be the start to something big.
Ralph Nader and Grover Norquist: Washington’s Most Unlikely Bromance|Eleanor Clift|May 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Titanic has sometimes made $50,000 in a few weeks of well-timed chipping and putting at golf resorts.
Portrait of the Consummate Con Man|John Lardner|May 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST

It is chipping away at the uninsured population in the United States.
Inside Obamacare’s 11th Hour|Ben Jacobs, Olivia Nuzzi|April 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Henry, greatly taken with the idea, sat up until it was almost dark, chipping out the remaining letters of the alphabet.
The Box-Car Children|Gertrude Chandler Warner
But she is a girl, and she does not mind her jack-sparrow being a trifle headstrong, if only he has a kind heart.
Child Life In Town And Country|Anatole France
Over near Neighbour Brown's fence they were peeping through the green leaves at the song-sparrow's nest.
Seven O'Clock Stories|Robert Gordon Anderson
They are lacking, like the Pygmy races in general, in the art of chipping stone, one of the earliest arts acquired by man.
Man And His Ancestor|Charles Morris
A song sparrow was singing out by the road, and the thin, sweet flutings of a Peabody came from the pasture.
The Idyl of Twin Fires|Walter Prichard Eaton

British Dictionary definitions for chipping sparrow

chipping sparrow

noun

a common North American sparrow, Spizella passerina, having brown-and-grey plumage and a white eye stripe

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