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sunbird

[suhn-burd]
noun
  1. any of various small, brilliantly colored Old World birds of the family Nectariniidae.
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Origin of sunbird

First recorded in 1790–1800; sun + bird
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for sunbird

Historical Examples

  • 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.

  • Scimitar-babblers are so called because of the long, slender, compressed beak, which is curved downwards like that of a sunbird.

  • Loten's sunbird (A. lotenia) ventures some 2500 feet higher, and has been seen in the vicinity of Coonoor.

  • This sunbird was common around flowers at Kalabakan and Brantian Estate.

British Dictionary definitions for sunbird

sunbird

noun
  1. 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
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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