Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A bird that flies by night; especially, an owl; in the following quotation, the night-heron.
- noun A bird that sings by night; specifically, the nightingale.
- noun The Manx shearwater, Puffinus anglorum.
- noun The gallinule of Europe, Gallinula chloropus.
- noun One who stays out late at night, or works chiefly by night.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A person who likes to be active late at night; a
night owl .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Alternative spelling of
night bird .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a person who likes to be active late at night
- noun any bird associated with night: owl; nightingale; nighthawk; etc
Etymologies
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Examples
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More recently, Mayr et al. (2003) found Leptosomus to group with frogmouths in the 'nightbird' + apodiform clade, Ericson et al. (2006) found Leptosomus to be outside of a land bird clade that includes owls, mousebirds, 'core coraciiforms', trogons and piciforms (woodpeckers and kin), and Hackett et al. (2008) found Leptosomus to be close to (but outside of) a clade that includes trogons, piciforms and 'core coraciiforms'.
ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science Darren Naish none@example.com 2010
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The only sounds here were the stirrings of plants, the occasional skreek of a nightbird, and the soft thudding steps of the horses.
Sick Cycle Carousel 2010
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Faint music came from another house beyond the trees; a carriage clopped past the distant gates; overhead a nightbird moaned dolefully; I could hear my own knees creaking as I crouched there, scratching the newly-healed bullet-wound in my backside and wondering what the deuce was wrong.
Isabelle Estelle Bruno 2010
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I have one book to recommend and i think you'd appreciate it: Speaks the nightbird by Robert Mccammon
Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock Adam Whitehead 2009
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You know, I think a person who blogs either has to be working long hours at a computer all day (and thus needs to take a break without * looking* like they're slacking off, like all those smokers huddled wherever it is they get banished to these days); or, you have to be a nightbird.
Lights Out 2005
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The air is quiet and perfectly still, and he hears the song of a nightbird somewhere distant.
Orbit John J. Nance 2006
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The air is quiet and perfectly still, and he hears the song of a nightbird somewhere distant.
Orbit John J. Nance 2006
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The fireball had been close-followed by some stub-winged whooshing nightbird or hog-faced bat, flicking low to Inman's head, causing him to duck and walk stooped for three full strides.
Cold Mountain Frazier, Charles, 1950- Cold Mountain 2003
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The fireball had been close-followed by some stub-winged whooshing nightbird or hog-faced bat, flicking low to Inman's head, causing him to duck and walk stooped for three full strides.
Cold Mountain Frazier, Charles, 1950- Cold Mountain 1997
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Granted, he wouldn't have stayed a great snoring lump for long if there'd been trouble, but that was no comfort when you were straining your ears trying to tell if that was a nightbird, a bug, or a maneating whatever out there.
The Silver Gryphon Lackey, Mercedes 1996
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