Java sparrow

American  

noun

1. a finchlike weaverbird, Padda oryzivora, of southeastern Asia, having gray plumage tinged with pink on the belly, often kept as a cage bird.

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Java sparrow British  

noun

1. a small grey-and-pink finchlike Indonesian weaverbird, Padda oryzivora: a popular cage bird

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Etymology

Origin of Java sparrow

First recorded in 1860–65

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Java sparrow

Lund’s allegorical novel imagines a boy with a Java sparrow living in his rib cage.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 1, 2022

His rumination ended in a doze, and his doze in a dream, in which he fancied himself a Brobdignag Java sparrow during the moulting season.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, September 5, 1841 by Various

Not at all scientific; but I, of course, can now tell a lory from a Java sparrow, and a bullfinch from a canary.

From Vivian Grey by Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield

On the opposite side of the room, in a corner, was a very large cage, in the sole occupancy of a solitary Java sparrow.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, August 28, 1841 by Various

Or it may be streaked with bright paint and passed on some unwary person for a Java sparrow or a "blood-heart."

From Nature Near London by Richard Jefferies

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