Wheatear — Wheat ear , n. (Zo[ o]l.) A small European singing bird ({Saxicola [oe]nanthe}). The male is white beneath, bluish gray above, with black wings and a black stripe through each eye. The tail is black at the tip and in the middle, but white at the… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
wheatear — type of bird, 1590s, back formation from white ears, lit. white arse (see WHITE (Cf. white) + ARSE (Cf. arse)). So called for its color markings; Cf. French name for the bird, cul blanc, lit. white rump … Etymology dictionary
wheatear — ► NOUN ▪ a songbird with black and grey, buff, or white plumage and a white rump. ORIGIN apparently from WHITE(Cf. ↑whitish) + ARSE(Cf. ↑arse) … English terms dictionary
wheatear — [hwēt′ir΄, wēt′ir΄] n. [earlier white ears < WHITE + eeres, ers, var. of ARSE: in reference to its white rump] any of a genus (Oenanthe) of small, long legged, migrating thrushes native to the Old World, esp. a species ( O. oenanthe) now in… … English World dictionary
Wheatear — Wheatears Northern Wheatear (male) Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia … Wikipedia
wheatear — noun Etymology: back formation from earlier wheatears wheatear, probably by folk etymology or euphemism from white + arse Date: 1591 any of various small thrushes (genus Oenanthe); especially a white rumped one (O. oenanthe) of northern North… … New Collegiate Dictionary
wheatear — /hweet ear , weet /, n. any of several small, chiefly Old World thrushes of the genus Oenanthe, having a distinctive white rump, esp. O. oenanthe, of Eurasia and North America. [1585 95; prob. back formation from wheatears, for *whiteers white… … Universalium
wheatear — [16] The wheatear is etymologically the ‘white arsed’ bird. The word is a backformation from an earlier wheatears, a singular form which came to be regarded as plural. And wheatears in turn was an alteration (due no doubt to confusion with wheat) … The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins
wheatear — /ˈwitɪə/ (say weetear) noun any of various birds of the genus Oenanthe, family Muscicapidae, which have a white rump, as the northern wheatear, O. oenanthe, of the Northern Hemisphere. {backformation from wheatears, conceived of as a plural,… …
wheatear — [16] The wheatear is etymologically the ‘white arsed’ bird. The word is a backformation from an earlier wheatears, a singular form which came to be regarded as plural. And wheatears in turn was an alteration (due no doubt to confusion with wheat) … Word origins
