Definitions

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

  • noun Alternative spelling of yellowhammer.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Marty was quite sure he saw a yellow-hammer on the boughs of the great ash, and while he was peeping, he missed the sight of a white-throated stoat, which had run across the path and was described with much fervour by the junior Tommy.

    Adam Bede 2004

  • He could see no birds except a yellow-hammer that sat on the topmost spray of a bush and sang: 'Little-bit-of-bread-and-no-cheese', over and over again in a most maddening manner.

    Five Go Off In A Caravan Blyton, Enid, 1898?-1968 1951

  • Her attention centered finally on a yellow-hammer, which was industriously boring the trunk of a dead chestnut.

    Heart of the Blue Ridge Waldron Baily

  • In the British Islands by far the commonest species of bunting is the yellow-hammer (_E. citrinella_), but the true bunting (or corn-bunting, or bunting-lark, as it is called in some districts) is a very well-known bird, while the reed-bunting (_E. schoeniclus_) frequents marshy soils almost to the exclusion of the two former.

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 "Bulgaria" to "Calgary" Various

  • I felt sorry for the yellow-hammer Alabamians, they looked so hacked, and answered back never a word.

    "Co. Aytch" Maury Grays, First Tennessee Regiment or, A Side Show of the Big Show Sam R. Watkins

  • Amongst these are the polar hare and fox, the ermine, the campagnol, often even the wolf and reindeer, besides the owl, yellow-hammer, and some other birds.

    Russia As Seen and Described by Famous Writers Various

  • Towards the yellow-hammer, or yellow-yite -- bird of beautiful plumage though it be -- because it is the subject of an unaccountable superstitious notion, which credits it with drinking a drop of the devil's blood every May morning, the children of Scotland cherish no inconsiderable contempt, which finds expression in the rhyme: --

    Children's Rhymes, Children's Games, Children's Songs, Children's Stories A Book for Bairns and Big Folk Robert Ford

  • Birds sang a little, and a yellow-hammer cried out for a little bit of bread and no cheese.

    The Mountain of Adventure Blyton, Enid 1949

  • The birds, which had stopped singing and calling, began to chirp again, and a yellow-hammer gave his familiar cry.

    The Mountain of Adventure Blyton, Enid 1949

  • At least the two boys did - Diana didn't do much seeking for birds and flowers - she 'mooned along-, as the boys called it, enjoying the smells, the sounds and the sights of the countryside - the smell of the meadowsweet, the blue of the chicory, the queer little trill of the yellow-hammer, and the blue flash of the kingfisher as he flew past them, crying 'tee-tee-tee!

    The Rockingdown Mystery Blyton, Enid, 1898?-1968 1949

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