blackbird
English
Etymology
From Middle English blakebird, blacbrid (“ouzel; Eurasian blackbird”), equivalent to black + bird.
Noun
blackbird (plural blackbirds)
- A common true thrush, Turdus merula, found in woods and gardens over much of Eurasia, and introduced elsewhere.
- A variety of New World birds of the family Icteridae (26 species of icterid bird).
- (slang, derogatory, historical, among slavers and pirates) A native of the South Pacific islands.
Synonyms
- (Turdus merula): common blackbird; Eurasian blackbird; merle, merl; ouzel
- (Icteridae): icterid
Derived terms
terms derived from blackbird (noun)
- blackbirder
- blackbirding
- New World blackbird
Translations
Turdus merula: blackbird
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Verb
blackbird (third-person singular simple present blackbirds, present participle blackbirding, simple past and past participle blackbirded)
- To enslave someone, especially through chicanery or force
- 2005, Wal F. Bird, Me No Go Mally Bulla: Recruiting and Blackbirding in the Queensland Labour Trade 1863–1906, published by Ginninderra Press, →ISBN, →ISBN
- 2000, Kate Fortune and Brij V. Lal, The Pacific Islands: An Encyclopedia – Volume 1, published by University of Hawaiʻi, p. 208, →ISBN
- “At the same time, island communities — especially in coastal areas, where the effect of population loss was often enormous — sometimes retaliated against blackbirding raids.”
Coordinate terms
- ictericus
- merula
- merulus
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