mourning dove

noun

a dove, Zenaidura macroura, of North America, noted for its plaintive cooing.

Origin of mourning dove

An Americanism dating back to 1825–35

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for mourning dove

Historical Examples of mourning dove

Our most familiar wild species is the mourning-dove or turtle-dove (Zenaidura macroura) found abundantly all over the country.
Elementary Zoology, Second Edition
Vernon L. Kellogg
She awoke at the cry of a jay in the maples, and then as she listened she heard a mourning-dove sob from the distance.
Rose of Dutcher's Coolly
Hamlin Garland
Our American turtle-dove, or mourning-dove, is much like this but nobody minds the few bits of grain it picks up.
The Animal World, A Book of Natural History
Theodore Wood

British Dictionary definitions for mourning dove

mourning dove

noun

a brown North American dove, Zenaidura macroura, with a plaintive song

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