goldfinch

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

• noun Any of several small American finches of the genus Spinus, especially S. tristis, of which the male has yellow plumage with a black forehead, wings, and tail.
• noun A small finch (Carduelis carduelis) of Eurasia and Africa, having brownish plumage with black-and-yellow wings and a red patch across the face.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In angling, the name of an artificial salmon-fly.
• noun An elegant European siskin or thistle-bird, Carduelis elegans, of the family Fringillidæ, having wings conspicuously marked with yellow, and a crimson face.
• noun The American thistle-bird, Chrysomitris tristis, of the family Fringillidæ, having a yellow body, with black cap, wings, and tail, the latter marked also with white.
• noun Some finch like or likened to either of the above, as the Arkansan goldfinch, Chry-somitris psaltria.
• noun The yellow bunting, Emberiza citrinella: a misnomer.
• noun A gold piece; a sovereign.

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

• noun A beautiful bright-colored European finch (Carduelis elegans). The name refers to the large patch of yellow on the wings. The front of the head and throat are bright red; the nape, with part of the wings and tail, black; -- called also goldspink, goldie, fool's coat, drawbird, draw-water, thistle finch, and sweet William.
• noun The yellow-hammer.
• noun A small American finch (Spinus tristis); the thistle bird.

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

• noun A small passerine bird of the finch family; the European goldfinch, Carduelis carduelis, the American goldfinch, Carduelis tristis, Lawrence's Goldfinch, Carduelis lawrencei, or the lesser goldfinch, Carduelis psaltria.

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

• noun American finch whose male has yellow body plumage in summer
• noun small European finch having a crimson face and yellow-and-black wings