night bird
1
4.3
- noun
- /naɪt bɜrd/
:
ave nocturna
- The night bird perched quietly on the branch, waiting for the perfect moment to hunt.
- night bird calls
- night bird's cry
- night birds sing
Examples
-
Unseen night birds were hooting in the dark forest they had just passed through.
Fiction book (2002) -
The shadows have lengthened, and the night birds have begun their plaintive chorus.
Fiction book (2000) -
A night bird calls from the trees.
Fiction book (1990) -
From deep within the close came a night bird's single call.
Fiction book (1990) -
A sound like a night bird's cry pierces the shadows.
Fiction book (1992) -
A night bird was singing somewhere, and she was lovely in the magical starlight.
Fiction book (2002) -
They work together; they study the habits of night birds.
Fiction book (2002) -
A night bird called, a single high-flown note that trailed off in a series of diminishing eighths.
Fiction book (1990) -
Off in the distance could be heard the calm and methodical heartbeat of the ocean, while closer, a night bird sang melancholic, trilling its low whistle from within a tangled thorn bush.
Fiction book (2002) -
As darkness fell, the night bird took to the trees, its calls echoing in the still air.
Synonyms
A bird active at night that hunts small animals, for example an owl
How Nocturnal
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a bird active at night' is directly and literally built from 'night' modifying 'bird' (a night-time bird), so a learner who knows both words can readily infer the sense. This modifier + noun compound is a common, cross-linguistic composition pattern and thus highly transparent to B1 learners.
Etymology
Night bird comes from the simple picture of a bird that is active after dark: people put the words night and bird together to name animals like owls that call and hunt at night. So, night bird means 'a bird that is active or commonly seen at night'.