wagtail

[ wag-teyl ]

noun

any of numerous small, chiefly Old World birds of the family Motacillidae, having a slender body with a long, narrow tail that is habitually wagged up and down.
any of several similar birds, as the water thrushes of the genus Seiurus.

Origin of wagtail

First recorded in 1500–10; wag + tail¹

Words Nearby wagtail

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use wagtail in a sentence

From Bungay in Suffolk comes the news that a water-wagtail has built its nest in a milk-can.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 158, April 28, 1920 | Various
The wagtail is a house-bird, making the houses or cattle-pens its centre, and remaining about them for months.
The Hills and the Vale | Richard Jefferies
Brown thrushes, dark blackbird, blue tit, and wagtail gave a little colour to the angle of the meadow.
The Hills and the Vale | Richard Jefferies
In the ivy close under the window there, within reach of the hand, a water-wagtail built its nest.
The Hills and the Vale | Richard Jefferies
These are both black-and-white birds—the magpie-robin (Copsychus saularis) and the pied wagtail (Motacilla maderaspatensis).
A Bird Calendar for Northern India | Douglas Dewar

British Dictionary definitions for wagtail

wagtail

/ (ˈwæɡˌteɪl) /

noun

any of various passerine songbirds of the genera Motacilla and Dendronanthus, of Eurasia and Africa, having a very long tail that wags when the bird walks: family Motacillidae

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

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