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• mavis
  mavis

  noun

  a song thrush.
• Mavis
  Mavis

  noun

  a female given name.

mavis

¹ American  

[mey-vis] / ˈmeɪ vɪs /

noun

British (chiefly Literary).

1. a song thrush.

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Mavis ² American  

[mey-vis] / ˈmeɪ vɪs /

noun

1. a female given name.

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mavis British  

/ ˈmeɪvɪs /

noun

1. a popular name for the song thrush

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Etymology

Origin of mavis

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English mavys, from Anglo-French mauviz, probably equivalent to ma(u)ve “seagull” (from Old English mæw a small gull; see mew ²) + -iz of unclear origin

Example Sentences

In winter my mavis sings whenever the weather is mild and the grass is visible.

From Aileen Aroon, A Memoir With other Tales of Faithful Friends and Favourites by Stables, Gordon

I sing as sings the mavis in a wood, Content to be alive at harvest time.

From Love Letters of a Violinist and Other Poems by Mackay, Eric

An’ blithely the mavis salutes the gay morn As sweetly he sings on the snawy white thorn, While the laverock soars high o’er the lang yellow corn, And the moorcocks, the moorcocks are cheerily crawin’.”

From Kenneth McAlpine A Tale of Mountain, Moorland and Sea by Stables, Gordon

No; if I must see and hear aright I have to walk slowly, and when the mavis is singing at close o' day I must halt altogether if I would listen as I ought.

From Betty Grier by Waugh, Joseph Laing

The birds too, mavis, lintie, and bulfinch, are caroling among the trees, as if their little hearts were filled with boundless joy.

From The Genius of Scotland or Sketches of Scottish Scenery, Literature and Religion by Turnbull, Robert