jackdaw

American  

[jak-daw] / ˈdʒækˌdɔ /

noun

1. a glossy, black, European bird, Corvus monedula, of the crow family, that nests in towers, ruins, etc.

2. boat-tailed grackle.

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jackdaw British  

/ ˈdʒækˌdɔː /

noun

1. a large common Eurasian passerine bird, Corvus monedula , in which the plumage is black and dark grey: noted for its thieving habits: family Corvidae (crows)

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Etymology

Origin of jackdaw

First recorded in 1535–45; jack ¹ + daw

Example Sentences

Her bedroom menagerie included an orphaned crow, a badger cub, a wounded jackdaw and a whole nest of baby bullfinches.

From New York Times • Aug. 18, 2020

In an early scene, we see her preserving a dead jackdaw, clutching a scalpel that “looked like a stiletto,” a tool that in other households would be used for paring fruit, “not flesh.”

From Washington Post • Apr. 1, 2016

We worked out afterwards that the bird was a jackdaw.

From BBC • Mar. 9, 2015

John Daw = Jack Daw = jackdaw, a bird that, like a magpie, likes to pick up and collect shiny things, such as classical quotations.

From The New Yorker • Oct. 6, 2014

Malcolm stepped over the sandbags, and Asta became a robin, and then changed back to a jackdaw.

From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman