blackbird

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun Any of various New World birds of the family Icteridae, such as the grackle or red-winged blackbird, the male of which has black or predominantly black plumage.
• noun A Eurasian and African songbird (Turdus merula), the male of which is black with a yellow bill.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A native of the islands of Torres Strait.
• noun The English name of a species of thrush, Merula merula, Turdus merula, or Merula vulgaris, common throughout Europe.
• noun In America, a bird of the family Icteridæ (which see).
• noun In the West Indies, the ani, Crotophaga ani, of the family Cuculidæ, or cuckoos; the savanna-blackbird. See cut under ani.
• noun A cant term on the coast of Africa for a slave.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun (Zoöl.) In England, a species of thrush (Turdus merula), a singing bird with a fin note; the merle. In America the name is given to several birds, as the Quiscalus versicolor, or crow blackbird; the Agelæus phœniceus, or red-winged blackbird; the cowbird; the rusty grackle, etc. See redwing.
• intransitive verb colloq. to engage in the slave trade.
• noun Cant, pejorative Among slavers and pirates, a negro or Polynesian.
• noun Australia, pejorative A native of any of the islands near Queensland; -- called also Kanaka.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A (common) true thrush, Turdus merula, found in woods and gardens over much of Eurasia, and introduced elsewhere.
• noun A variety of New World birds of the family Icteridae (26 species of icterid bird).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun common black European thrush
• noun any bird of the family Icteridae whose male is black or predominantly black