thornbill
Britishnoun
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any of various South American hummingbirds of the genera Chalcostigma, Ramphomicron, etc, having a thornlike bill
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Also called: thornbill warbler. any of various Australasian wrens of the genus Acanthiza and related genera: family Muscicapidae
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any of various other birds with thornlike bills
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.
They attempted to train half the birds to recognise the thornbill’s alarm cry as a warning sound, and the other half to recognise the computer-generated “buzz” as a distress call.
From The Guardian
They attempted to train half the birds to recognize the thornbill’s alarm cry as a warning sound, and the other half to recognize the computer-generated “buzz” as a distress call.
From Seattle Times
The tiny thornbill thus effectively outsmarts its large enemy.
From Scientific American
In response, the thornbill parents imitated alarm calls from between one and four different species, some of which can be heard in this video.
From Science Magazine
One was the alarm cry of an allopatric chestnut-rumped thornbill, a bird not native to Australia.
From Seattle Times
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.
