chough
Americannoun
noun
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a large black passerine bird, Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax, of parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, with a long downward-curving red bill: family Corvidae (crows)
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a smaller related bird, Pyrrhocorax graculus, with a shorter yellow bill
Etymology
Origin of chough
1275–1325; Middle English choghe; akin to Old English cēo, Dutch kauw, Danish kaa
Vocabulary lists containing chough
"The Tragedy of Macbeth," Vocabulary from Act 3
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"The Tragedy of Hamlet," Vocabulary from Act 5
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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.
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
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
The second is like the foolish chough, which loves to steal money only to hide it.
From Cowley's Essays by Cowley, Abraham
In the following exceptions, however, gh is pronounced as f: cough, chough, clough, enough, laugh, rough, slough, tough, trough.
From The Handy Cyclopedia of Things Worth Knowing A Manual of Ready Reference by Triemens, Joseph
Think you that I cannot pluck yon chough without being pinched?
From The Yeoman Adventurer by Gough, George W.
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.
