Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of various songbirds of the family Thraupidae of the Americas, often having brightly colored plumage in the male.
- noun Any of various similar birds of the family Cardinalidae, such as the scarlet tanager.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Some or any tanagrine bird; a member of the Tanagridæ.
- noun Any finch of the genus Paroaria.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of bright-colored singing birds belonging to Tanagra, Piranga, and allied genera. The scarlet tanager (
Piranga erythromelas ) and the summer redbird (Piranga rubra ) are common species of the United States.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any of several
American passerine birds , of the familyThraupidae , that inhabitforests .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun any of numerous New World woodland birds having brightly colored males
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
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Examples
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Sangre de toro is a tanager with a breast and throat carpeted, it seemed, with crimson velvet.
Strange Paradise 2009
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I could certainly relate, though I doubt my wife would have been amused if I was delivering a commencement address on love and the best I could come up with was a scarlet tanager.
Reality RV: Family Time Ralph Gardner Jr. 2011
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Sangre de toro is a tanager with a breast and throat carpeted, it seemed, with crimson velvet.
Strange Paradise 2009
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The biodiversity of the Chocó, included among which is this Euphonia tanager, urgently requires increased conservation attention.
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The scarlet tanager appears more bloodred than human blood.
The Best American Poetry 2010 Amy Gerstler 2010
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The scarlet tanager appears more bloodred than human blood.
The Best American Poetry 2010 Amy Gerstler 2010
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The scarlet tanager appears more bloodred than human blood.
The Best American Poetry 2010 Amy Gerstler 2010
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A rose-throated tanager whirs overhead and settles in the jacaranda tree across the street.
The Lady Matador’s Hotel Cristina García 2010
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Thanks for the tips and the beautiful western tanager shot.
A cleaning phenom... Gumbo Lily 2010
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Some of the more common birds are the northern pygmy-owl, olive warbler, red-faced warbler, hepatic tanager, mountain bluebird, pygmy nuthatch, white-breasted nuthatch, Mexican junco, Steller's jay, red-shafted flicker and the Rocky Mountain sapsucker.
fbharjo commented on the word tanager
a western tanager flew by our breakfast table this morning. exquisite coloring!
May 17, 2010
ruzuzu commented on the word tanager
That's the sort of event which is worthy of a like button. Not sure how it would fit into Facebook's marketing strategy, but I'm sure they'll find a way.
May 17, 2010
bilby commented on the word tanager
What's with the spike in tanager use around 1880?
May 17, 2010
fbharjo commented on the word tanager
The spike in the usage in 1880 may be associated with the opening of the railroads in the Western United States and elsewhere. These birds with their flashiness might have caused a spike in usage as they were more noticed than before as railroads traveled into their habitats....just a conjecture
May 17, 2010
fbharjo commented on the word tanager
Ruzuzu is very perceptive. I made the comment about the tanager because it struck me as both exotic (literally means from a foreign country) and after noting the twitters on wordnik's tanager page with several twits from the same locale I'm in - Albuquerque. We are the ones from a foreign locale, not the tanager. We don't fully undastand - unda is latin for wave - the repercussions of these new communication tools we are using. Its heartening to have fellow peregrines such as Ruzuzu and Bilby to point out these ripples. It is wren-ching.
May 17, 2010
ruzuzu commented on the word tanager
Thanks, fbharjo! You inspire your own raptor rapture.
May 17, 2010