SPARROW • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Sparrow

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/spˈɛroʊ/ Listen

noun

Sparrow n.

1.

(Zool.) 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. Note: The following American species are well known; the chipping sparrow, or chippy, the sage sparrow, the savanna sparrow, the song sparrow, the tree sparrow, and the white-throated sparrow (see Peabody bird). See these terms under Sage, Savanna, etc.

2.

(Zool.) Any one of several small singing birds somewhat resembling the true sparrows in form or habits, as the European hedge sparrow. See under Hedge. "He that doth the ravens feed, Yea, providently caters for the sparrow, Be comfort to my age!"

Field sparrow, Fox sparrow, etc. See under Field, Fox, etc.

Sparrow bill, a small nail; a castiron shoe nail; a sparable.

Sparrow hawk. (Zool.)

(a)

A small European hawk (Accipiter nisus) or any of the allied species.

(b)

A small American falcon (Falco sparverius).

(c)

The Australian collared sparrow hawk (Accipiter torquatus). Note: The name is applied to other small hawks, as the European kestrel and the New Zealand quail hawk.

Sparrow owl (Zool.), a small owl (Glaucidium passerinum) found both in the Old World and the New. The name is also applied to other species of small owls.

Sparrow spear (Zool.), the female of the reed bunting. (Prov. Eng.)

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Etymology of 'Sparrow'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Sparrow" Quotes from Famous Books

... water. If you ever look at a duck dive into the water, you can see it when it comes up quite dry; but if you dipped you head into the water it would wet it all over. When little birds, such as the sparrow and canary, come out of the egg, they have no feathers on, but the old ones cover them with their wings to keep the cold away, and the feathers soon grow, and then they can fly away and find food and make nests ...

— The Infant System - For Developing the Intellectual and Moral Powers of all Children, - from One to Seven years of Age • Samuel Wilderspin

... Alexander, thou hast a camp to govern, not a chamber; fall not from the armour of Mars to the arms of Venus, from the fiery assaults of war to the maidenly skirmishes of love, from displaying the eagle in thine ensign to set down the sparrow. I sigh, Alexander, that, where fortune could not conquer, folly ...

— The Growth of English Drama • Arnold Wynne

... man of science in America who became an agnostic simply from observation of a particular Texas fly that bites the cattle. The Founder of Christianity recognized this problem, as He did every other painful fact in life, when He made the remark about the sparrow. ...

— The Advance of English Poetry in the Twentieth Century • William Lyon Phelps

... ate from off their silver platters. Only one plateful of food such as this must, of a surety, make his dear mother strong and well once more. Not for a moment did Roland hesitate. Even as a tiny sparrow darts into a lion's cage and picks up a scrap almost out of the monarch's hungry jaws, so acted Roland. A plateful of food stood beside the King. At this Roland sprang, seized it with both hands, and joyfully ran off with his prey. When the serving men would have ...

— A Book of Myths • Jean Lang

... ouzel-cock so black of hue, With orange tawny bill; The throstle with his note so true, The wren with little quill; The finch, the sparrow, and the lark, The plain song cuckoo gray, Whose note full many a man doth mark, ...

— Birds and Poets • John Burroughs

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