lintwhite

American  

[lint-hwahyt, -wahyt] / ˈlɪntˌʰwaɪt, -ˌwaɪt /

noun

Chiefly Scot.

1. the linnet, Carduelis cannabina.

---

lintwhite British  

/ ˈlɪntˌwaɪt /

noun

1. archaic the linnet

---

Etymology

Origin of lintwhite

before 900; lint (syncopated variant of linnet ) + white; replacing Middle English lynkwhytte, alteration (perhaps by association with link hill ( links ) and whit ) of Old English līnetwige linnet, literally, flax (or flax-field) trouble-maker, so called because the bird pecks out and eats flaxseed, equivalent to līnet- (< Medieval Latin līnētum flax-field) + -wige, feminine of wiga fighter

Example Sentences

Song I The lintwhite and the throstlecock Have voices sweet and clear; All in the bloomèd May.

From The Suppressed Poems of Alfred Lord Tennyson by Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron

A lintwhite was flying by them, and they gave chase.

From Foes by Johnston, Mary

In vain to me the cowslips blaw, In vain to me the violets spring; In vain to me in glen or shaw, The mavis and the lintwhite sing.

From The Home Book of Verse — Volume 3 by Stevenson, Burton Egbert

In vain to me the cowslips blaw, In vain to me the vi’lets spring; In vain to me, in glen or shaw, The mavis and the lintwhite sing.

From The Complete Works of Robert Burns: Containing his Poems, Songs, and Correspondence. With a New Life of the Poet, and Notices, Critical and Biographical by Allan Cunningham by Burns, Robert

She wi' the lintwhite locks is your sister, we guess, and the ither is Alizon—and, by our troth, a weel-faur'd lass.

From The Lancashire Witches A Romance of Pendle Forest by Ainsworth, William Harrison