Word Study
passerine
WORDNET DICTIONARY
Noun passerine has 1 sense
- passerine(n = noun.animal) passeriform bird - perching birds mostly small and living near the ground with feet having 4 toes arranged to allow for gripping the perch; most are songbirds; hatchlings are helpless; Array is a kind of bird
is a member of order passeriformes, passeriformes
has particulars: oscine, oscine bird, sparrow, true sparrow, lyrebird, scrub-bird, scrub bird, scrubbird, broadbill, tyrannid, jenny wren, wren
Derived form adjective passerine1
Adjective passerine has 1 sense
- passerine(a = adj.pert) Array - relating to or characteristic of the passeriform birds; Array Antonym: nonpasserine
Derived form noun passerine1
CIDE DICTIONARY
passerine, a. [L. passerinus, fr. passer a sparrow.].
Of or pertaining to the Passeres . [1913 Webster]
"The columbine, gallinaceous, and passerine tribes people the fruit trees."
[1913 Webster]
passerine, n.
One of the Passeres . [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
passerine, n. & adj.
--n. any perching bird of the order Passeriformes, having feet with three toes pointing forward and one pointing backwards, including sparrows and most land birds.
--adj.
1 of or relating to this order.
2 of the size of a sparrow.
--n. any perching bird of the order Passeriformes, having feet with three toes pointing forward and one pointing backwards, including sparrows and most land birds.
--adj.
1 of or relating to this order.
2 of the size of a sparrow.
Etymology
L passer sparrow
For further exploring for "passerine" in Webster Dictionary Online
