chough

American  

[chuhf] / tʃʌf /

noun

1. any of several crowlike Old World birds, especially Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax, of Europe.

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chough British  

/ tʃʌf /

noun

1. a large black passerine bird, Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax, of parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, with a long downward-curving red bill: family Corvidae (crows)

2. a smaller related bird, Pyrrhocorax graculus, with a shorter yellow bill

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Etymology

Origin of chough

1275–1325; Middle English choghe; akin to Old English cēo, Dutch kauw, Danish kaa

Example Sentences

She found it easier this time, and there was the chough, with her in her own world, perching on a branch that hung low over the pavement.

From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman

The chough, which, in addition to plumage dark and glossy like that of the jackdaw, displays a beak and legs of bright scarlet.

From The South Isles of Aran by Burke, Oliver J.

But for that dead rascal at our feet I could beyond a doubt have plucked him like a chough, and here I was, still penniless.

From The Yeoman Adventurer by Gough, George W.

These in their turn will be followed by the chough, hobby, great black-backed gull, furze wren, crested tit, and others.

From Birds and Man by Hudson, W. H. (William Henry)

Jacky was a Cornish chough, coal-black in plumage, with brilliant orange-tinted beak.

From The Tree of Knowledge A Novel by Reynolds, Mrs. Baillie