canary

From French canarie, from Spanish canario, from the Latin Canariae insulae (“Canary Islands”) (Spanish Islas Canarias); from the largest island Insula Canaria (“Dog Island" or "Canine Island”), named for its dogs, from canārius (“canine”), from canis (“dog”).

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• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kəˈnɛəɹi/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kəˈnɛəɹi/

• Audio (AU)

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canary (countable and uncountable, plural canaries)

1. A small, usually yellow, finch (genus Serinus), a songbird native to the Canary Islands.
2. Any of various small birds of different countries, most of which are largely yellow in colour.
3. A light, slightly greenish, yellow colour.

   canary colour:  

4. (countable, uncountable) A light, sweet, white wine from the Canary Islands.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, III. ii. 80:

     I will to my honest knight / Falstaff, and drink canary with him.

   • 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard

     Or maybe you'd accept iv a couple o' bottles of claret or canaries?

5. A lively dance, possibly of Spanish origin (also called canaries).
   • 1598, William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well, II. i. 74:

     and make you dance canary / With sprightly fire and motion;

6. Any test subject, especially an inadvertent or unwilling one. (From the mining practice of using canaries to detect dangerous gases.)
7. (computing) A value placed in memory such that it will be the first data corrupted by a buffer overflow, allowing the program to identify and recover from it.
8. (informal) A female singer, soprano, a coloratura singer.
9. (slang) An informer or snitch; a squealer.
10. (slang) A (usually yellow) capsule of the short-acting barbiturate pentobarbital/pentobarbitone (Nembutal).
11. (Australia, informal) A yellow sticker of unroadworthiness.
    • 1993 September 12, Jacco Zwetsloot, “Warning About Speed Traps”, in alt.folklore.urban, Usenet‎:

      The tendency in these types of situations (as far as I can see) is that because I don't think the act itself is illegal, the police will go through your vehicle systematically loking^[sic] for anything wrong with it, to slap a canary on it (that's slang for an unroadworthy sticker) or present you with some other fine.

    • 1999 January 16, Garry Lawson, “Noisy Bikes (Update)”, in aus.motorcycles, Usenet‎:

      Yes, if the exhaust is to noisey^[sic] they can slap a yellow canary on it, but the[n] who cares you got rid of it.

    • 2019 February 14, Noddy, “Spare tyres”, in aus.cars, Usenet‎:

      You don't have to carry a spare wheel for a car to be roadworthy, and if you *do* carry one, it doesn't have to be in a roadworthy condition *unless* you fit it [to] the car and drive on it.
      If it's not and you get pinched, expect a canary...

• (informant): See Thesaurus:informant

• Serinus canaria, Serinus pusillus, Serinus serinus

• canary in a coal mine
• climate canary
• miner's canary
• stack canary
• warrant canary

canary (comparative more canary, superlative most canary)

1. Of a light yellow colour.

canary (third-person singular simple present canaries, present participle canarying, simple past and past participle canaried)

1. (intransitive) to dance nimbly (as in the canary dance)
   • 1590, William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost, III. i. 11:

     but to jig off a tune at / the tongue's end, canary to it with your feet,

2. (slang) to inform or snitch, to betray secrets, especially about illegal activities.

• (to inform): See Thesaurus:rat out

• bush canary
• canary creeper
• canary grass
• canary in a coal mine
• canary yellow

• serin
• yellowhead

• Appendix:Colors