wagtail


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Related to wagtail: White Wagtail

wag·tail

 (wăg′tāl′)
n.
Any of various chiefly Eurasian or African insectivorous birds of the family Motacillidae, having a slender body with a long tail that constantly wags.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

wagtail

(ˈwæɡˌteɪl)
n
(Animals) any of various passerine songbirds of the genera Motacilla and Dendronanthus, of Eurasia and Africa, having a very long tail that wags when the bird walks: family Motacillidae
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

wag•tail

(ˈwægˌteɪl)

n.
1. any of various slim, usu. boldly patterned songbirds of the family Motacillidae, mainly of Eurasia and Africa, having a long tail that wags up and down when the bird is still.
2. any of several similar birds, as the water thrushes of the genus Seiurus.
[1500–10]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.wagtail - Old World bird having a very long tail that jerks up and down as it walkswagtail - Old World bird having a very long tail that jerks up and down as it walks
oscine, oscine bird - passerine bird having specialized vocal apparatus
genus Motacilla, Motacilla - type genus of the Motacillidae: wagtails
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations

wagtail

[ˈwægteɪl] Nlavandera f
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

wagtail

[ˈwægteɪl] nbergeronnette f
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

wagtail

n (Orn) → Bachstelze f
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

wagtail

[ˈwægˌteɪl] n (Zool) → ballerina
grey wagtail → ballerina gialla
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
References in classic literature ?
All at once he turned round to Claude with the agile quickness of a wagtail.
"The primary driver to the lower production was the slower than anticipated ramp-up in mining at Wagtail North in the latter part of the quarter.
The propensity to play may however, not be one of the essential attributes of wagtails, yet this clan, most notably in the form of the pied wagtail, are to me naturally comedic birds in appearance, the "Coco the Clown" of the avian world.
LORD Barry, president of Flintshire in Business, paid a visit to Wagtail UK at Halkyn Hall.
It didn't really look like a pied wagtail, which are black-and-white, but the fledgling was a browny-grey, with only a black bib giving away its pied wagtailness.
BIRD NOTES With Julian Hughes | White Wagtail PICTURE: HENRY COOK WHITE Wagtails are the mainland European counterpart to our Pied Wagtails and can be found on coastal saltmarsh in April.
While, kalij pheasant, tree pipit, wagtail, kingfisher, spotted owlet, spotted dove and Indian roller were scarce in numbers.
A trip to Fayoum leads to naturalist Richard Hoath's first sighting of the illusive Grey Wagtail.
SPEEDING WARS ITV, 9.00pm Police in Essex try to stop the extreme speeders who race at more than 100mph on public roads at Lakeside, going under cover in Operation Wagtail to improve one of the most notorious areas in the county.
Among the migratory birds are Siberian cranes, greater flamingo, black winged stilt, common teal, common greenshank, northern pintail, yellow wagtail and white wagtail, who arrive every year along with domestic avian species such as common hoopoe, purple sunbird, little cormorant, little egret and white ibis.
Which variety of wagtail has a white underbody with black and white wings?