storm-cock
Britishnoun
Etymology
Origin of storm-cock
C18: so called because it was believed to give forewarning of bad weather
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.
The air was fresh and keen, squirrels jumped about in the trees, and the storm-cock sang blithely.
From Fifty-Two Stories For Girls by Alfred H. (Alfred Henry) Miles
Is called Hampshire and Sussex the storm-cock, because its song is supposed to forebode windy wet weather: it is the largest singing bird we have. p.
From The Natural History of Selborne, Vol. 1 by Henry Morley
He straddles his legs, hunches his knife behind him, and whistles like a storm-cock through a sleet-shower.
From Rewards and Fairies by Rudyard Kipling
The Welsh call him master of the coppice, and he welcomes a storm with such a vigorous and hearty song that in some countries he is known as storm-cock.
From Locusts and Wild Honey by John Burroughs
I wonder if any brave bird pipes to you as my storm-cock to me?
From The History of Sir Richard Calmady A Romance by Lucas Malet
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.
