redbird

American  

[red-burd] / ˈrɛdˌbɜrd /

noun

1. any of various birds having red plumage, especially the northern cardinal.

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Etymology

Origin of redbird

First recorded in 1660–70; red ¹ + bird

Example Sentences

Watching with delight in spring as a male redbird presents his mate with an edible demonstration of his “fitness as a partner,” she comments, “In the avian world, a grub is an engagement ring.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 6, 2024

I wanted to roll it in my palm like the head of a small redbird until it sang to me.

From The New Yorker • Dec. 12, 2016

Now morns are full of song; The catbird and the redbird and the jay Upon the hilltops rouse the rosy day, Who, dewy, blithe, and strong, Lures their wild wings along.

From A Voice on the Wind and Other Poems by Cawein, Madison Julius

It became a standing remark among the boys that he was a Union redbird and had enlisted in our regiment to sound the reveille.

From The Story of a Common Soldier of Army Life in the Civil War, 1861-1865 by Stillwell, Leander

Sometimes the redbird flashes like a living flame through the green tree-tops, or the brilliant orange-and-black plumage of the Baltimore oriole contrasts with the lilac-gray bark of an old tree-trunk.

From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 26, July 1880. by Various