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drongo

1
[drong-goh]
noun, plural dron·gos.
  1. any passerine bird of the family Dicruridae, of Africa, Asia, and Australia, the several species usually having black plumage and long, forked tails.
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Origin of drongo

1
Borrowed into English from Malagasy around 1835–45

drongo

2
[drong-goh]
noun, plural dron·gos. Australian Slang.
  1. a stupid or slow-witted person; simpleton.
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Origin of drongo

2
1920–25; probably to be identified with drongo1, as a name for the Australian bird Dicrurus bracteata; though often popularly alleged to have originated from the name of an unsuccessful racehorse of the 1920s
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for drongo

Historical Examples of drongo

  • The drongo cuckoo is as like the king-crow as one pea is to another.

    Birds of the Plains

    Douglas Dewar

  • The drongo appears well adapted at Rota, where it prefers cultivated areas and the bombed village sites to thick woodlands.

  • The drongo builds earlier, for it is usually feeding its young while the oriole is incubating.

    Birds of the Plains

    Douglas Dewar

  • The drongo cuckoo (Surniculus lugubris) is a bird of which I know practically nothing.

    Birds of the Plains

    Douglas Dewar

  • My lack of knowledge of the habits of the drongo cuckoo is, however, not my chief reason for desiring to write about it.

    Birds of the Plains

    Douglas Dewar

British Dictionary definitions for drongo

drongo

noun plural -gos
  1. Also called: drongo shrike any insectivorous songbird of the family Dicruridae, of the Old World tropics, having a glossy black plumage, a forked tail, and a stout bill
  2. Australian and NZ slang a slow-witted person
  3. Australian informal a new recruit in the Royal Australian Air Force
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Word Origin for drongo

C19: from Malagasy
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