corn crake

noun

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

Nearby words

corn chip, corn circle, corn cob, corn cockle, corn color, corn crake, corn dodger, corn dog, corn dolly, corn earworm, corn exchange

Origin of corn crake

First recorded in 1545–55

Also called land rail.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for corncrake

The hay harvest in July is a cause of much disturbance to the Corncrake.
Among the Birds in Northern Shires|Charles Dixon
Like the rasp of a corncrake she heard the wheels of the barouche on the gravel.
A Bed of Roses|W. L. George
Now he never goes across the sea at all, and do you see the corncrake?
The King of Ireland's Son|Padraic Colum
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

A corncrake jarred in a hay-field near by, and the small trouts of the brook began to jump.
Puck of Pook's Hill|Rudyard Kipling

British Dictionary definitions for corncrake

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