oscine

American  

[os-in, -ahyn] / ˈɒs ɪn, -aɪn /

adjective

1. of, belonging to, or pertaining to the suborder Oscines, of the order Passeriformes, comprising the songbirds that have highly developed vocal organs.

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noun

1. an oscine bird.

oscine British  

/ ˈɒsaɪn, ˈɒsɪn /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or belonging to the Oscines, a suborder of passerine birds that includes most of the songbirds

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Other Word Forms

• nonoscine adjective

Etymology

Origin of oscine

1880–85, < New Latin Oscines name of the suborder, equivalent to Latin oscin- (stem of oscen ) songbird, originally bird that gives omens by its cry ( o ( b ) s-, variant of ob- ob- + -cin-, stem of -cen, noun derivative of canere to sing) + -es nominative plural noun suffix

Example Sentences

He assumes that since palato-maxillaries seem to be absent in the majority of passerine birds, their occurrence in certain nine-primaried oscine groups indicates relationship among these groups.

From Myology and Serology of the Avian Family Fringillidae A Taxonomic Study by Stallcup, William B.

Sturnid�, stur′ni-dē, n.pl. a family of oscine passerine birds, its representative genus, Stur′nus, the starlings.—adjs.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various

For that matter, however, there is no one of our birds—be he, in technical language, "oscine" or "non-oscine"—whose voice is not, in its own way, agreeable.

From Birds in the Bush by Torrey, Bradford

It was something after the order of the purple martin's melodious sputter, only the tones were richer and fuller and the music better defined, as became a genuine oscine.

From Birds of the Rockies by Keyser, Leander S. (Leander Sylvester)