hirundine

American

[hi-ruhn-din, -dahyn] / hɪˈrʌn dɪn, -daɪn /

adjective

of, relating to, or resembling the swallow.

hirundine British

/ hɪˈrʌndɪn, -daɪn /

adjective

of or resembling a swallow
belonging to the bird family Hirundinidae, which includes swallows and martins

"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

Etymology

Origin of hirundine

1825–35; < Late Latin hirundineus of a swallow, equivalent to hirundin- (stem of hirundō ) swallow + -eus adj. suffix; -eous

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Hirundine, hi-run′din, adj. of or pertaining to the swallow.

From Project Gutenberg

Were the stragglers which I had for some time been watching, flying high, but well within easy ken, and these dense, hardly discernible clusters—hirundine nebulæ, as it were—were all these but parts of one innumerable host, the main body of which was passing far above me altogether unseen?

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023