corn crake

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noun

a short-billed Eurasian rail, Crex crex, frequenting grainfields.

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Also called land rail.

Origin of corn crake

First recorded in 1545–55

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use corn crake in a sentence

It is a favourite spot with the corncrake—almost the only place where you are nearly sure to hear him.
The Hills and the Vale|Richard Jefferies
Somewhere a corncrake called its monotonous crek-craik; the dull, harsh sound emphasizing the utter stillness.
Great Ghost Stories|Various
A farmer at Aikerness in Orkney, about midwinter, in demolishing a mud-wall, found a Corncrake in the midst of it.
The Romance of Natural History, Second Series|Philip Henry Gosse
From a field of young wheat hard by I heard the harsh, grating note of the corncrake.
A Book of Ghosts|Sabine Baring-Gould

A restless corncrake cries among the long grass of the next meadow that stands waiting for the scythe.
In the West Country|Francis A. Knight

British Dictionary definitions for corn crake

corncrake

/ (ˈkɔːnˌkreɪk) /

noun

a common Eurasian rail, Crex crex, of fields and meadows, with a buff speckled plumage and reddish wings

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