sunbird

[suhn-burd]

noun

any of various small, brilliantly colored Old World birds of the family Nectariniidae.

Origin of sunbird

First recorded in 1790–1800; sun + bird

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for sunbird

Historical Examples of sunbird

The immunity of the sunbird is due chiefly to the inaccessibility of the nest.
Glimpses of Indian Birds
Douglas Dewar
Great is the variety of building material used by the sunbird.
A Bird Calendar for Northern India
Douglas Dewar
Scimitar-babblers are so called because of the long, slender, compressed beak, which is curved downwards like that of a sunbird.
Birds of the Indian Hills
Douglas Dewar
Loten's sunbird (A. lotenia) ventures some 2500 feet higher, and has been seen in the vicinity of Coonoor.
Birds of the Indian Hills
Douglas Dewar
This sunbird was common around flowers at Kalabakan and Brantian Estate.
Birds from North Borneo
Max C. Thompson

British Dictionary definitions for sunbird

sunbird

noun

any small songbird of the family Nectariniidae, of tropical regions of the Old World, esp Africa, having a long slender curved bill and a bright plumage in the males

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