drongo

¹ American  

[drong-goh] / ˈdrɒŋ goʊ /

noun

plural

drongos

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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drongo ² American  

[drong-goh] / ˈdrɒŋ goʊ /

noun

Australian Slang.

plural

drongos

1. a stupid or slow-witted person; simpleton.

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drongo British  

/ ˈdrɒŋɡəʊ /

noun

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. slang a slow-witted person

3. informal a new recruit in the Royal Australian Air Force

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Etymology

Origin of drongo¹

Borrowed into English from Malagasy around 1835–45

Origin of drongo²

1920–25; probably to be identified with drongo ¹, 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

Example Sentences

All in all this is a pretty feeble book, and its author is a bit of a drongo.

From The Guardian • Jul. 10, 2013

We caught curl-crested manucode, hooded butcherbirds, helmeted friarbirds, spangled drongo, and several other species we hadn’t seen since working on the mainland or the D’Entrecasteaux Islands.

From New York Times • Nov. 9, 2011

How about the racquet-tailed drongo, and the mudskipper, a hippopotamus-shaped fish that likes to skitter across mud flats and climb mangrove roots?

From Time Magazine Archive

Galah, n.: small pink-and-gray cockatoo, noted for its stupidity; hence, a drongo.

From Time Magazine Archive

The only immediately noticeable difference in the makeup of the avifauna after destruction of the forest canopy was the appearance of the drongo Dicrurus aeneus.

From Birds from North Borneo University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History, Volume 17, No. 8, pp. 377-433, October 27, 1966 by Thompson, Max C.