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rookery

[roo k-uh-ree]
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noun, plural rook·er·ies.
  1. a breeding place or colony of gregarious birds or animals, as penguins and seals.
  2. a colony of rooks.
  3. a place where rooks congregate to breed.
  4. a crowded tenement house.
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Origin of rookery

First recorded in 1715–25; rook1 + -ery
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

hatcherybirthplacerookery

Examples from the Web for rookery

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Our rookery was in the middle swamp a day inland from Talimeco, safe and secret.

    The Trail Book

    Mary Austin

  • If ever you write a novel, Miss Manvers, mind you have a rookery in it.

    Vivian Grey

    Earl of Beaconsfield, Benjamin Disraeli

  • The stream of birds from the rookery was flying in the same direction.

    The Black Phantom

    Leo Edward Miller

  • The proximity of a rookery does not affect all people alike.

    Birds in the Calendar

    Frederick G. Aflalo

  • I called a hackman, for my reading taught me what to do, and I told him to drive me to the Rookery.

    The Jucklins

    Opie Read

British Dictionary definitions for rookery

rookery

noun plural -eries
  1. a group of nesting rooks
  2. a clump of trees containing rooks' nests
    1. a breeding ground or communal living area of certain other species of gregarious birds or mammals, esp penguins or seals
    2. a colony of any such creatures
  4. archaic an overcrowded slum tenement building or area of housing
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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

Word Origin and History for rookery

n.

"colony of rooks," 1725, from rook (n.1) + -ery.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
rookery in Science

rookery

[ruk′ə-rē]
  1. A place where certain birds or animals, such as crows, penguins, and seals, gather to breed.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.