macaw

[ muh-kaw ]

noun
  1. any of various large, long-tailed parrots of tropical and subtropical America, noted for their brilliant plumage and distinctive light-colored facial patches: of the six macaw genera, Ara includes the most familiar and greatest number of species, while Cyanopsitta has just one species, C. spixii(Spix's macaw ), a small, blue macaw, now classified as possibly extinct in the wild.

Origin of macaw

1
First recorded in 1620–30; from Portuguese macao, macau, probably from macaúba from Tupi macahuba, equivalent to maca “palm” + ybá “tree”

Words Nearby macaw

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use macaw in a sentence

  • On the top of the next tree sat an extraordinary-looking bird, about the size of a pheasant, colored blue and rose like a macaw.

    In the Morning of Time | Charles G. D. Roberts

British Dictionary definitions for macaw

macaw

/ (məˈkɔː) /


noun
  1. any large tropical American parrot of the genera Ara and Anodorhynchus, having a long tail and brilliant plumage

Origin of macaw

1
C17: from Portuguese macau, of unknown origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012