house martin

noun

a small European swallow, Delichon urbica, that builds its nest under the eaves of houses.

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Origin of house martin

First recorded in 1760–70

Words nearby house martin

house guest, house league, house lights, house manager, house mark, house martin, house moss, house moth, house mouse, house music, house of assembly

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Example sentences from the Web for house martin

They dip and wash as they fly sometimes, like the house-martin and swallow.
The Natural History of Selborne, Vol. 2|Gilbert White
The house-martin's nest is more elaborate than the swallow's.
The Adventures of a Grain of Dust|Hallam Hawksworth
The sand-martin, the house-martin's cousin, prefers the side of a cliff.
The Children's Book of London|Geraldine Edith Mitton
Instead of the clay-built nest of the house-martin, this bird bores horizontal galleries in an escarpment.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 17, Slice 7|Various

The wall was perfectly flat, and they began to fasten mud against it as a house-martin would have done.
In a Cheshire Garden|Geoffrey Egerton-Warburton

British Dictionary definitions for house martin

house martin

noun

a Eurasian swallow, Delichon urbica, with a slightly forked tail and a white and bluish-black plumage

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