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 , orblue snowbird .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any
bird of the genusJunco , which includes several species ofNorth 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
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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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
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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
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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
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The junco is the most common feeder bird in North America.
Durangoherald.com 2010
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The junco is the most common feeder bird in North America.
Durangoherald.com 2010
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The junco is the most common feeder bird in North America.
Durangoherald.com 2010
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"[Summer] deserved it after getting the word 'junco' correct."
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"[Summer] deserved it after getting the word 'junco' correct."
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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
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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
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