Sparrow
['spærəʊ] or ['spæro]
Definition
(noun.) any of several small dull-colored singing birds feeding on seeds or insects.
Checked by Lilith--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) One of many species of small singing birds of the family Fringilligae, having conical bills, and feeding chiefly on seeds. Many sparrows are called also finches, and buntings. The common sparrow, or house sparrow, of Europe (Passer domesticus) is noted for its familiarity, its voracity, its attachment to its young, and its fecundity. See House sparrow, under House.
(n.) Any one of several small singing birds somewhat resembling the true sparrows in form or habits, as the European hedge sparrow. See under Hedge.
Typed by Andy
Definition
n. an Old World genus of birds of fringilline family.—ns. Sparr′ow-bill a small shoe-nail so called from its shape—also Spar′able; Sparr′ow-grass asparagus; Sparr′ow-hawk a genus of long-legged short-winged falcons like the goshawks but smaller.—adj. Sparr′ow-tail (see Swallow-tail).
Editor: Pedro
Unserious Contents or Definition
To dream of sparrows, denotes that you will be surrounded with love and comfort, and this will cause you to listen with kindly interest to tales of woe, and your benevolence will gain you popularity. To see them distressed or wounded, foretells sadness.
Checked by Aubrey
Examples
- As if it were Cock Robin, the hero of the ballad, and Mr Venus were the sparrow with his bow and arrow, and Mr Wegg were the fly with his little eye. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- Behold, cried he, as he entered, what bird's food I have brought for my sparrow on the house-top. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Yer ought ter look up to the Lord above--he's above all--thar don't a sparrow fall without him. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- I found that the sparrow uttered none but harsh notes, whilst those of the blackbird and thrush were sweet and enticing. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- Charley took it in both his own with a tenderness beyond description, unless it was like that of a child holding a captured sparrow. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- We had lain in hay and talked and shot sparrows with an air-rifle when they perched in the triangle cut high up in the wall of the barn. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- Sparrows were there, cats were there, dry-rot and wet-rot were there, but it was not otherwise a suggestive spot. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- My little woman, says Mr. Snagsby to the sparrows in Staple Inn, likes to have her religion rather sharp, you see! Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
Typed by Garrett