Definitions

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

  • noun Any of various sparrows of the genus Junco of North and Central America, having predominantly gray plumage, a gray or black head, and white outer tail feathers.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A thorny shrub or small tree, Kœberlinia spinosa, of southwestern Texas and northern Mexico, with numerous almost leafless branches, the branchlets ending in spines.
  • noun A notable genus of the finch family, Fringillidæ; the North American snowbirds.
  • noun [lowercase] Any bird of this genus; a snowbird.

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

  • noun (Zoöl.) Any bird of the genus Junco, which includes several species of North American finches; -- called also snowbird, or blue snowbird.

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

  • noun Any bird of the genus Junco, which includes several species of North American finch.

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

  • noun small North American finch seen chiefly in winter

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Spanish, reed, from Latin iuncus.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Spanish

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word junco.

Examples

  • We have called the junco a snowbird, but this name should really be confined to a black and white bunting which comes south only with a mid-winter's rush of snowflakes.

    The Log of the Sun A Chronicle of Nature's Year William Beebe 1919

  • Afterwards I learned that it was the gray-headed junco, which is distinctly a western species, breeding among the mountains of Colorado.

    Birds of the Rockies 1896

  • My junco was a little nervous at first and showed her white quills, but she soon grew used to my presence, and would alight upon the chair which I kept for callers, and upon my hammock-ropes.

    The Wit of a Duck and Other Papers John Burroughs 1879

  • The junco is the most common feeder bird in North America.

    Durangoherald.com 2010

  • The junco is the most common feeder bird in North America.

    Durangoherald.com 2010

  • The junco is the most common feeder bird in North America.

    Durangoherald.com 2010

  • "[Summer] deserved it after getting the word 'junco' correct."

    seMissourian.com Headlines 2010

  • "[Summer] deserved it after getting the word 'junco' correct."

    seMissourian.com Headlines 2010

  • I don't lose sleep over what sub-species of junco visits my feeder and all of my "birding" trips involve dogs and shotguns rather than binoculars and field guides.

    Holy Grails 2009

  • I was surprised to see that even though none of the birds had their distinguishing colors, my mother knew most of the names¾a chickadee, a nut hatch; a junco, maybe; a mourning dove, no question; a cardinal or perhaps a blue jay.

    Amends '82: Part Two 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.