corn crake
a short-billed Eurasian rail, Crex crex, frequenting grainfields.
Origin of corn crake
1- Also called land rail.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
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 JefferiesSomewhere a corncrake called its monotonous crek-craik; the dull, harsh sound emphasizing the utter stillness.
Great Ghost Stories | VariousA 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 GosseFrom a field of young wheat hard by I heard the harsh, grating note of the corncrake.
A Book of Ghosts | Sabine Baring-GouldA 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 corncrake
/ (ˈkɔːnˌkreɪk) /
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
Browse