purple martin
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of purple martin
An Americanism dating back to 1735–45
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Before he even parked, Prum was calling out the names of birds he glimpsed or heard through the car window: osprey, purple martin, red-winged blackbird.
From New York Times • Jan. 9, 2019
The purple martin is a large, broad-winged swallow of sumptuous royal blue with a gurgling liquid song.
From The Guardian • Jul. 27, 2013
I don't know how stupid a man can get, but when he can't tell a purple martin from a starling that's got to be getting close to the record.
From Time Magazine Archive
Connecticut: All the shore birds; quail, purple martin.
From Our Vanishing Wild Life Its Extermination and Preservation by Hornaday, William Temple
New York: Quail, woodcock, upland plover, golden plover, black-bellied plover, willet, dowitcher, red-breasted sandpiper, long-billed curlew, wood-duck, purple martin, redheaded woodpecker, mourning dove; gray squirrel, otter.
From Our Vanishing Wild Life Its Extermination and Preservation by Hornaday, William Temple
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
