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

Example Sentences

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

From Washington Post • Feb. 1, 2022

"Yes, she made me think of my little Java sparrow, with pale fawn-colored feathers, and little gleams of violet on the neck," responded Flora.

From A Romance of the Republic by Child, Lydia Maria Francis

But she was too weak to talk or read much, and the chief thing she had to amuse her was a little grey Java sparrow, which she had with her in a cage.

From Little Folks (December 1884) A Magazine for the Young 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 Disraeli, Benjamin, Earl of Beaconsfield

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