Bird"ie (&?;), n. A pretty or dear little bird; -- a pet name. Tennyson.
Bird"i*kin (&?;), n. A young bird. Thackeray.
Bird"ing, n. Birdcatching or fowling. Shak.
Birding piece, a fowling piece. Shak.
Bird"let, n. A little bird; a nestling.
Bird"like` (&?;), a. Resembling a bird.
Bird"lime` (&?;), n. [Bird + lime viscous substance.] An extremely adhesive viscid substance, usually made of the middle bark of the holly, by boiling, fermenting, and cleansing it. When a twig is smeared with this substance it will hold small birds which may light upon it. Hence: Anything which insnares.
Not birdlime or Idean pitch produce
A more tenacious mass of clammy juice.
Dryden.
Birdlime is also made from mistletoe, elder, etc.
Bird"lime`, v. t. To smear with birdlime; to catch with birdlime; to insnare.
When the heart is thus birdlimed, then it cleaves to everything it meets with.
Coodwin.
Bird"ling, n. A little bird; a nestling.
Bird"man (&?;), n. A fowler or birdcatcher.
Bird" of par"a*dise (&?;). (Zoöl.) The name of several very beautiful birds of the genus Paradisea and allied genera, inhabiting New Guinea and the adjacent islands. The males have brilliant colors, elegant plumes, and often remarkable tail feathers.
The Great emerald (Paradisea apoda) and the Lesser emerald (P. minor) furnish many of the plumes used as ornaments by ladies; the Red is P. rubra or sanguinea; the Golden is Parotia aurea or sexsetacea; the King is Cincinnurus regius.
The name is also applied to the longer-billed birds of another related group (Epimachinæ) from the same region. The Twelve-wired (Seleucides alba) is one of these. See Paradise bird, and Note under Apod.
Bird" pep`per (&?;). A species of capsicum (Capsicum baccatum), whose small, conical, coral-red fruit is among the most piquant of all red peppers.
Bird's"-beak` (&?;), n. (Arch.) A molding whose section is thought to resemble a beak.
Bird"seed` (&?;), n. Canary seed, hemp, millet or other small seeds used for feeding caged birds.
Bird's"-eye` (&?;), a. 1. Seen from above, as if by a flying bird; embraced at a glance; hence, general; not minute, or entering into details; as, a bird's-eye view.
2. Marked with spots resembling bird's eyes; as, bird's-eye diaper; bird's-eye maple.
Bird's"-eye`, n. (Bot.) A plant with a small bright flower, as the Adonis or pheasant's eye, the mealy primrose (Primula farinosa), and species of Veronica, Geranium, etc.
Bird's"-eye` ma"ple (&?;). See under Maple.
Bird's"-foot` (&?;), n. (Bot.) A papilionaceous plant, the Ornithopus, having a curved, cylindrical pod tipped with a short, clawlike point.
Bird's-foot trefoil. (Bot.) (a) A genus of plants (Lotus) with clawlike pods. L. corniculatas, with yellow flowers, is very common in Great Britain. (b) the related plant, Trigonella ornithopodioides, is also European.
Bird's-mouth` (&?;), n. (Arch.) An interior angle or notch cut across a piece of timber, for the reception of the edge of another, as that in a rafter to be laid on a plate; -- commonly called crow's-foot in the United States.
{ Bird's" nest`, or Bird's-nest } (&?;), n. 1. The nest in which a bird lays eggs and hatches her young.
2. (Cookery) The nest of a small swallow (Collocalia nidifica and several allied species), of China and the neighboring countries, which is mixed with soups.
The nests are found in caverns and fissures of cliffs on rocky coasts, and are composed in part of algæ. They are of the size of a goose egg, and in substance resemble isinglass. See Illust. under Edible.
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3. (Bot.) An orchideous plant with matted roots, of the genus Neottia (N. nidus-avis.)
Bird's-nest pudding, a pudding containing apples whose cores have been replaced by sugar. -- Yellow bird's nest, a plant, the Monotropa hypopitys.
Bird's-nest`ing (brdz"nst`ng), n. Hunting for, or taking, birds' nests or their contents.
Bird's"-tongue` (&?;), n. (Bot.) The knotgrass (Polygonum aviculare).
Bird"-wit`ted (&?;), a. Flighty; passing rapidly from one subject to another; not having the faculty of attention. Bacon.
Bi`rec*tan"gu*lar (&?;), a. [Pref. bi- + rectangular.] Containing or having two right angles; as, a birectangular spherical triangle.
Bi"reme (&?;), n. [L. biremis; bis twice + remus oar: cf. F. birème.] An ancient galley or vessel with two banks or tiers of oars.
Bi*ret"ta (&?;), n. Same as Berretta.
Bir"gan*der (&?;), n. See Bergander.
Birk (&?;), n. [See Birch, n.] A birch tree. [Prov. Eng.] "The silver birk." Tennyson.
Birk, n. (Zoöl.) A small European minnow (Leuciscus phoxinus).