jailbird
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of jailbird
Explanation
A jailbird is someone who's been in prison or is still there. Your parents might refer to your disgraced car thief cousin a jailbird. Jailbird is a casual and derogatory term for a convicted criminal, especially one who's been in and out of jail several times. Following a prison escape, a local newspaper's headline might read "Jailbird on the Loose!" Jailbird, coined in the 17th century, equates the image of a bird in a cage with a prisoner in jail.
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.
Costume designer Maya Edmond dresses Big Ant thematically: white tees when he’s trying to be good, black duds when his demons are winning and comic book-y jailbird stripes during his pivotal teenage arrest.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
The pangram from yesterday’s Spelling Bee was jailbird.
From New York Times ● Mar. 1, 2023
Tony Sirico, a one-time jailbird who achieved fame as mobster Paulie “Walnuts” Gualtieri in HBO‘s “The Sopranos,” died Friday, his brother the Rev. Robert Sirico said on Facebook.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 8, 2022
As he explains in his memoir, Ronnie was “a conman, fantasist, occasional jailbird, and my father. . . . Ronnie’s life was spent walking on the thinnest, slipperiest ice you can imagine.”
From Washington Post ● Dec. 14, 2020
“How about a kiss for your jailbird brother?” he said.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
