Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The migratory drive in animals, especially birds.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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The Germans call it "zugunruhe" - migratory restlessness - and it will impel each individual bird to head north once again, on the long and often dangerous journey back to our shores.
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By the way, "zugunruhe" is a an obscure German ornithological term for the nighttime restlessness displayed by migratory birds.
"There's a shark-shaped fin, in the water of my dreams..." greygirlbeast 2009
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Their restlessness at this time of year is called “zugunruhe,” which means travel urge.
The Field Guide to Wildlife Habitats of the Eastern United States Janine M. Benyus 1989
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Their restlessness at this time of year is called “zugunruhe,” which means travel urge.
The Field Guide to Wildlife Habitats of the Eastern United States Janine M. Benyus 1989
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Their restlessness at this time of year is called “zugunruhe,” which means travel urge.
The Field Guide to Wildlife Habitats of the Eastern United States Janine M. Benyus 1989
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Nonetheless, birds are driven by an innate biological urge called "migratory restlessness" - zugunruhe in scientific parlance.
chron.com Chronicle 2011
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He sent me to the dictionary several times for carr, scroll pond, procrypsis, coign, spates and zugunruhe.
meeyauw 2010
trivet commented on the word zugunruhe
The urge to migrate, especially as exhibited by captive birds.
February 22, 2007
seanahan commented on the word zugunruhe
This is one of those words that you look at and think, "Well that's from German".
February 22, 2007
brtom commented on the word zugunruhe
Four years on, my personal declaration of, and against, lexical ignorance runs from "abscissa" (Cormac McCarthy) to "zugunruhe" (William Fiennes, who admittedly provided a helpful contextual explanation of this, the migratory restlessness of birds). James Meek
January 3, 2008
misterpolly commented on the word zugunruhe
and all these years I've been thinking it was a railwaymen's strike in Germany!
January 9, 2008
reesetee commented on the word zugunruhe
Maybe that's why the birds felt an urge to migrate. ;->
January 9, 2008