stonechat

American

[stohn-chat] / ˈstoʊnˌtʃæt /

noun

any of several small Old World birds, especially of the genus Saxicola, as S. torquata.

stonechat British

/ ˈstəʊnˌtʃæt /

noun

an Old World songbird, Saxicola torquata, having a black plumage with a reddish-brown breast: subfamily Turdinae (thrushes)

"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

Etymology

Origin of stonechat

1775–85; stone + chat, so called from its warning cry which sounds like a clash of stones

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.

Alberto Román Gómez captured a playful stonechat perched beside a heavy chain, resembling a tiny warrior.

From BBC • Oct. 8, 2024

He really wants to find the stonechat which he knows frequent the valley, but they prove elusive - for now.

From BBC • Aug. 4, 2024

But then suddenly, Graeme's efforts pay off as we sight a stonechat, the feathered fiend who had evaded us earlier, sitting happily atop a fence post.

From BBC • Aug. 4, 2024

The stonechat is “the very acme of alertness.”

From New York Times • Sep. 28, 2016

To the future must belong the task of deciphering some pages of the immense lexicon; for today I will content myself with remembering the Saxicola, or stonechat.

From The Life of the fly; with which are interspersed some chapters of autobiography by Teixeira de Mattos, Alexander

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023