Word Meanings - WAGTAIL - Book Publishers vocabulary database

Any one of many species of Old World singing birds belonging to Motacilla and several allied genera of the family Motacillidæ. They have the habit of constantly jerking their long tails up and down, whence the name. Field wagtail, any

Additional info about word: WAGTAIL

Any one of many species of Old World singing birds belonging to Motacilla and several allied genera of the family Motacillidæ. They have the habit of constantly jerking their long tails up and down, whence the name. Field wagtail, any one of several species of wagtails of the genus Budytes having the tail shorter, the legs longer, and the hind claw longer and straighter, than do the water wagtails. Most of the species are yellow beneath. Called also yellow wagtail. -- Garden wagtail, the Indian black-breasted wagtail (Nemoricola Indica). -- Pied wagtail, the common European water wagtail (Motacilla lugubris). It is variegated with black and white. The name is applied also to other allied species having similar colors. Called also pied dishwasher. -- Wagtail flycatcher, a true flycatcher common in Southern Australia, where it is very tame, and frequents stock yards and gardens and often builds its nest about houses; -- called also black fantail. -- Water wagtail. Any one of several species of wagtails of the restricted genus Motacilla. They live chiefly on the shores of ponds and streams. The American water thrush. See Water thrush. -- Wood wagtail, an Asiatic wagtail; having a slender bill and short legs.

Related words: (words related to WAGTAIL)

• FIELD
  The whole surface of an escutcheon; also, so much of it is shown unconcealed by the different bearings upon it. See Illust. of Fess, where the field is represented as gules , while the fess is argent . 6. An unresticted or favorable opportunity
• WORLDLY
  1. Relating to the world; human; common; as, worldly maxims; worldly actions. "I thus neglecting worldly ends." Shak. Many years it hath continued, standing by no other worldly mean but that one only hand which erected it. Hooker. 2. Pertaining
• FIELDING
  The act of playing as a fielder.
• SINGLE-BREASTED
  Lapping over the breast only far enough to permit of buttoning, and having buttons on one edge only; as, a single-breasted coast.
• ALLICIENT
  That attracts; attracting. -- n.
• HABITURE
  Habitude.
• ALLINEATION; ALINEEATION
  Alignment; position in a straight line, as of two planets with the sun. Whewell. The allineation of the two planets. C. A. Young.
• WHENCEFORTH
  From, or forth from, what or which place; whence. Spenser.
• SINGLY
  1. Individually; particularly; severally; as, to make men singly and personally good. 2. Only; by one's self; alone. Look thee, 't is so! Thou singly honest man. Shak. 3. Without partners, companions, or associates; single-handed; as, to attack
• ALLITERAL
  Pertaining to, or characterized by alliteration.
• GENERABILITY
  Capability of being generated. Johnstone.
• GENERALIZED
  Comprising structural characters which are separated in more specialized forms; synthetic; as, a generalized type.
• WORLDLY-MINDED
  Devoted to worldly interests; mindful of the affairs of the present life, and forgetful of those of the future; loving and pursuing this world's goods, to the exclusion of piety and attention to spiritual concerns. -- World"ly*mind`ed*ness, n.
• GENERALIZABLE
  Capable of being generalized, or reduced to a general form of statement, or brought under a general rule. Extreme cases are . . . not generalizable. Coleridge
• HABITED
  1. Clothed; arrayed; dressed; as, he was habited like a shepherd. 2. Fixed by habit; accustomed. So habited he was in sobriety. Fuller. 3. Inhabited. Another world, which is habited by the ghosts of men and women. Addison.
• SING-SING
  The kob.
• GENERA
  See GENUS
• FAMILY
  A groupe of organisms, either animal or vegetable, related by certain points of resemblance in structure or development, more comprehensive than a genus, because it is usually based on fewer or less pronounced points of likeness. In zoölogy
• WORLD-WIDE
  Extended throughout the world; as, world-wide fame. Tennyson.
• FIELDY
  Open, like a field. Wyclif.
• GALLIASS
  See GALLEASS
• DALLIANCE
  1. The act of dallying, trifling, or fondling; interchange of caresses; wanton play. Look thou be true, do not give dalliance Too mnch the rein. Shak. O, the dalliance and the wit, The flattery and the strifeTennyson. 2. Delay or procrastination.
• MAJOR GENERAL
  . An officer of the army holding a rank next above that of brigadier general and next below that of lieutenant general, and who usually commands a division or a corps.
• KAKARALLI
  A kind of wood common in Demerara, durable in salt water, because not subject to the depredations of the sea worm and barnacle.
• INHABITATE
  To inhabit.
• SCALLION
  A kind of small onion , native of Palestine; the eschalot, or shallot. 2. Any onion which does not "bottom out," but remains with a thick stem like a leek. Amer. Cyc.
• CORALLIGENOUS
  producing coral; coraligerous; coralliferous. Humble.
• HOMEFIELD
  Afield adjacent to its owner's home. Hawthorne.
• UNREGENERACY
  The quality or state of being unregenerate. Glanvill.
• REALLIANCE
  A renewed alliance.
• IMPALLID
  To make pallid; to blanch. Feltham.
• COHABITER
  A cohabitant. Hobbes.
• HEMEROCALLIS
  A genus of plants, some species of which are cultivated for their beautiful flowers; day lily.
• HAEMATOCRYSTALLIN
  See HEMATOCRYSTALLIN
• INHABITATIVENESS
  A tendency or propensity to permanent residence in a place or abode; love of home and country.
• MINNESINGER
  A love-singer; specifically, one of a class of German poets and musicians who flourished from about the middle of the twelfth to the middle of the fourteenth century. They were chiefly of noble birth, and made love and beauty the subjects of their