Cuckoo
['kʊkuː] or ['kʊku]
Definition
(noun.) any of numerous European and North American birds having pointed wings and a long tail.
(verb.) repeat monotonously, like a cuckoo repeats his call.
Typist: Terrence--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A bird belonging to Cuculus, Coccyzus, and several allied genera, of many species.
Typed by Edwina
Unserious Contents or Definition
To dream of a cuckoo, prognosticates a sudden ending of a happy life caused by the downfall of a dear friend. To dream that you hear a cuckoo, denotes the painful illness of the death of some absent loved one, or accident to some one in your family.
Checker: Lorrie
Examples
- Never in my life, prettily repeated Sophia in her own cuckoo-strain. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- That the small size of the egg is a real case of adaptation we may infer from the fact of the mon-parasitic American cuckoo laying full-sized eggs. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- You little children think there's only one cuckoo, one fox, one giant, one devil, and one reddleman, when there's lots of us all. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- But the American cuckoo is in this predicament, for she makes her own nest and has eggs and young successively hatched, all at the same time. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- By a continued process of this nature, I believe that the strange instinct of our cuckoo has been generated. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- Secondly, that the eggs are remarkably small, not exceeding those of the skylark--a bird about one-fourth as large as the cuckoo. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
Checker: Steve