blackbird
/ˈblækbɜːd/ (bre, ipa) · [blˈækbɚd] /ˈblækbɜːrd/ (ame, ipa) · [blˈækbɚd] /ˈblak-ˌbərd How to pronounce blackbird (audio)/ (ame, mw)
blackbird — noun
1. a common bird in Europe whose male has dark glossy plumage and an orange-yellow
a common bird in Europe whose male has dark glossy plumage and an orange-yellow beak, while the female bird is brown rather than black.
Liang heard a male blackbird singing from the apple tree at dawn.
male blackbird + sing at dawn
Zuri watched a blackbird pull a worm from the wet garden soil.
blackbird + pull a worm
The brown female blackbird hopped under the bench beside the pond.
A blackbird landed on the fence and flashed its yellow beak.
文法句型
a blackbird
male blackbird
female blackbird
用法筆記
In British English, blackbird usually means this garden songbird. In North America, the same word often refers instead to the different bird group in sense 2.
2. one of a number of birds found in North America whose males are mostly black, in
one of a number of birds found in North America whose males are mostly black, including species such as the red-winged blackbird.
Mauricio pointed out a red-winged blackbird clinging to the reeds by the lake.
red-winged blackbird
Farmers tried to scare the blackbirds away from the corn field.
blackbirds in crops
Minh saw a flock of blackbirds rise suddenly from the marsh grass.
Aylin noticed that the male blackbird was darker than the female beside it.
文法句型
a blackbird
flock of blackbirds
red-winged blackbird
用法筆記
In North American English, blackbird often names several related species. It does not usually mean the European garden bird in sense 1.
blackbird — verb
- blackbirdpresent simple I / you / we / they
- blackbirds3rd person singular
- blackbirding-ing form
- blackbirdedpast simple
1. (historical) to join the trade in kidnapped Pacific Islanders, moving them so th
(historical) to join the trade in kidnapped Pacific Islanders, moving them so they could be sold or forced to work.
Some labour ships blackbirded among the islands during the nineteenth century.
historical intransitive use
The captain was jailed after his crew blackbirded in Melanesia.
Historians say several traders blackbirded for sugar farm owners in Queensland.
The novel follows a ship that blackbirded across the South Pacific.
- traffic in slaves
modern descriptive phrase for the same kind of activity
- enslave
focuses on making people slaves rather than the trading voyage itself
文法句型
blackbird + in/among/across + place
用法筆記
Found mainly in nineteenth-century accounts of labour trafficking in the South Pacific. It is a historical term, not a word for ordinary bird hunting or modern smuggling.