railbird
Americannoun
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a horse-racing fan who watches races or workouts from the railing along the track.
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any kibitzer or self-styled critic or expert.
Etymology
Origin of railbird
1890–95, rail 1 + bird in sense “frequenter,” as in jailbird, yardbird
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.
He grew up on a local dairy farm and became a Grants Pass Downs railbird long before he and his late brother, Dane, turned a pushcart coffee stand in town into Dutch Bros.
From New York Times ● Jul. 19, 2021
Davidowitz, by contrast, says the curse is just one of those windbag railbird aphorisms on the order of never betting a horse who hasn’t raced in the past 15 days.
From Slate ● May 2, 2013
Besides, what railbird wants to bother with a race that covers only 350 to 550 yds. and is over before he can focus his binoculars?
From Time Magazine Archive
One of Filion's alltime favorites was a horse called Rabbit, an equine outpatient that, as one railbird recalls, had "four lame legs and so many bone chips he sounded like a crap game."
From Time Magazine Archive
Seabiscuit skipped back to the barn, “obviously,” said one railbird, “in a marvelous humor.”
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
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.
