Bird (?), n. [OE. brid, bred, bird, young bird, bird, AS. bridd young bird. 92.] 1. Orig., a chicken; the young of a fowl; a young eaglet; a nestling; and hence, a feathered flying animal (see 2).
That ungentle gull, the cuckoo's bird.
Shak.
The brydds [birds] of the aier have nestes.
Tyndale (Matt. viii. 20).
2. Zool. A warm-blooded, feathered vertebrate provided with wings. See Aves.
3. Specifically, among sportsmen, a game bird.
4. Fig.: A girl; a maiden.
And by my word! the bonny bird
In danger shall not tarry.
Campbell.
Arabian bird, the phenix. -- Bird of Jove, the eagle. -- Bird of Juno, the peacock. -- Bird louse Zool., a wingless insect of the group Mallophaga, of which the genera and species are very numerous and mostly parasitic upon birds. -- Bird mite Zool., a small mite (genera Dermanyssus, Dermaleichus and allies) parasitic upon birds. The species are numerous. -- Bird of passage, a migratory bird. -- Bird spider Zool., a very large South American spider (Mygale avicularia). It is said sometimes to capture and kill small birds. -- Bird tick Zool., a dipterous insect parasitic upon birds (genus Ornithomyia, and allies), usually winged.
© Webster 1913.
Bird (?), v. i. 1. To catch or shoot birds.
2. Hence: To seek for game or plunder; to thieve. [R.]
B. Jonson.
© Webster 1913. | 
