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Glite Dictionary
🐦 A songbird 🌏 An Australasian bird
catbird

catbird

1 7.7
A North American songbird whose call sounds like a cat meowing
  • noun
  • /ˈkætˌbɜrd/
  • US
translation icon : gato cantor
  • A spider climbs the screen, and outside, a catbird screeches from a fencepost.
  • the gray catbird
  • the catbird's call

Examples

  • You could still hear the surf behind us, and the catbird wrens were making a sweet racket, wishing us good morning.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • I waited in vain for a catbird to come or call.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Toward evening, I heard a catbird calling from the thicket of Virginia creeper.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • A slate-gray catbird emitted its lonely mewing call to the evening.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • When I stepped outside this morning, I found a dead bird on the side deck—one of our catbirds, master of the underbrush, a slim, vigorous bird with much to say.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • In the garden, I often hear a catbird mimicking the sounds of other birds.

  • The distinct call of the catbird echoed through the trees during the summer months.

  • While hiking, we spotted a catbird perched on a branch, singing its unique mewing song.

Synonyms

gray catbird
vscatbird
  • US
6.6

A small gray songbird in North America with a call like a cat

focuses on the bird and its mewing call without mentioning color
Dumetella carolinensis
vscatbird
  • Specialized
9.9

A North American songbird that makes a sound like a cat's mew

uses a general common description rather than scientific classification

Idioms

in the catbird seat
  • Archaic
3 9.1

A strong position with power or advantage

Compounds

gray catbird
  • US
6.6

A small gray songbird in North America with a call like a cat

Surface Forms

catbird singular
catbirds plural

Morphology

catbird = cat + bird (transparent) = cat + bird

Clear compound of 'cat' + 'bird': a bird named for a cat-like mewing call, so a learner can derive it denotes a type of bird.

Etymology

Catbird is simply cat + bird, because this North American songbird makes a call that sounds like a cat's 'mew', so the name helps you remember a bird with a cat-like cry.