yellow warbler
- noun
- /ˈjɛloʊ ˈwɔːrblər/
- US
:
reinitas amarilla
- We listened carefully to the beautiful song of the yellow warbler as it flitted between the trees.
Examples
-
I saw a yellow warbler and an indigo bunting at the Point.
Fiction book (1998) -
A yellow warbler appeared to my right and flew behind me.
Fiction book (1998) -
Yellow Warbler preferences drove the pattern for black willow because no other common local breeder used black willow.
Academic text (2016) -
I heard a yellow warbler, a house wren, a red-eyed vireo; stray notes of goldfinch.
Fiction book (1991) -
Yellow warbler, a species that produces helpless young, is primed to respond when a cowbird egg laid in its nest hatches a big, begging chick.
Academic text (2009) -
While hiking in the park, I saw a yellow warbler singing from a branch.
-
At dawn, the yellow warbler filled the air with its cheerful melody near the pond.
Synonyms
A small yellow bird from the Americas with a thin musical song
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derived from combining the adjective 'yellow' (a color) with the noun 'warbler' (a small songbird), so the phrase denotes a warbler that is yellow. This straightforward adjective+noun composition is cross-linguistically common and follows regular English semantics, so a B1 learner who knows both words would understand it.
Etymology
Yellow warbler is named for how it looks and sounds: it has bright yellow feathers and is a warbler, a small bird that sings. So the name literally means 'a small bright yellow songbird', which is why we use it today.
