MAGPIE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Magpie

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/mˈægpˌaɪ/ Listen

noun

Magpie n. (Zool.)

1.

Any one of numerous species of the genus Pica and related genera, allied to the jays, but having a long graduated tail.

2.

Any one of several black-and-white birds, such as Gymnorhina tibicen, not belonging to the genus Pica. Note: The common European magpie (Pica pica, or Pica caudata) is a black and white noisy and mischievous bird. It can be taught to speak. The American magpie (Pica Hudsonica) is very similar. The yellow-belled magpie (Pica Nuttalli) inhabits California. The blue magpie (Cyanopolius Cooki) inhabits Spain. Other allied species are found in Asia. The Tasmanian and Australian magpies are crow shrikes, as the white magpie (Gymnorhina organicum), the black magpie (Strepera fuliginosa), and the Australian magpie (Cracticus picatus).

3.

A talkative person; a chatterbox.

Magpie lark (Zool.), a common Australian bird (Grallina picata), conspicuously marked with black and white; called also little magpie.

Magpie moth (Zool.), a black and white European geometrid moth (Abraxas grossulariata); the harlequin moth. Its larva feeds on currant and gooseberry bushes.

See images of 'Magpie'

Etymology of 'Magpie'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Magpie" Quotes from Famous Books

... exquisite green and white flashes of the herb called Snow-on-the-Mountain. The inhabitants were jackrabbits, or American magpies in sharp black and white livery, forever trying to balance their huge tails against the wind, and yelling in low-magpie ...

— Free Air • Sinclair Lewis

... had begun, they turned in to the Vicus Patricius, and soon found themselves before the dwelling of Aulus. A young and sturdy "janitor" opened the door leading to the ostium, over which a magpie confined in a cage greeted them noisily ...

— Quo Vadis - A Narrative of the Time of Nero • Henryk Sienkiewicz

... either in cages or in courtyards, with their wings cut. They soon become tame, and are very amusing from their cunning odd manners, which were described to me as being similar to those of the common magpie. Their flight is undulatory, for the weight of the head and bill appears too great for the body. In the evening the Saurophagus takes its stand on a bush, often by the roadside, and continually repeats without ...

— The Voyage of the Beagle • Charles Darwin

... straight in the direction of sensuality. He's as ignorant and as clever as they're made. He's never done a stroke of honest work in his life, and despises all those who are fools enough to toil, me among them. He is as acquisitive as a monkey and a magpie rolled into one. His constitution is made of iron, and I dare say his nerves are made of steel. He's a rare one, I tell you, and I'll make a rare picture ...

— December Love • Robert Hichens

... Nicholas peeped into it, and, behold, it was full of coloured pictures of birds. And such birds! In the garden, and in the lanes when he went for a walk, Nicholas came across a few birds, of which the largest were an occasional magpie or wood-pigeon; here were herons and bustards, kites, toucans, tiger-bitterns, brush turkeys, ibises, golden pheasants, a whole portrait gallery of undreamed-of creatures. And as he was admiring the ...

— Beasts and Super-Beasts • Saki

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