Word Study
butcher knife |
butcher paper |
butcher shop |
butcher's broom |
butcher-bird |
butcherbird
| butchered
| butchering
| butcherliness
| butcherly
| butchery
butcherbird
WORDNET DICTIONARY
Noun butcherbird has 2 senses
- butcherbird(n = noun.animal) Array - shrikes that impale their prey on thorns; Array is a kind of shrike
- butcherbird(n = noun.animal) Array - large carnivorous Australian bird with the shrike-like habit of impaling prey on thorns; Array is a kind of australian magpie
is a member of genus lanius, lanius
has particulars: european shrike, lanius excubitor, lanius borealis, northern shrike, lanius ludovicianus excubitorides, white-rumped shrike
is a member of cracticus, genus cracticus
CIDE DICTIONARY
butcherbird, n.
- any species of shrike of the genus
Lanius , so called because they impale their prey on thorns. [1913 Webster] - large carnivorous Australian bird with the shrikelike habit of impaling prey on thorns. [WordNet 1.5]" The
Lanius excubitor is the common butcher bird of Europe. In England, the bearded tit is sometimes called thelesser butcher bird . The American species areLanius borealis , ornorthern butcher bird , andLanius Ludovicianus orloggerhead shrike . The namebutcher bird is derived from its habit of suspending its prey impaled upon thorns, after killing it." [1913 Webster]
For further exploring for "butcherbird" in Webster Dictionary Online