1-Stop Dictionary Reference

Shrike

Acceptable For Game Play - US & UK word lists

This word is acceptable for play in the US & UK dictionaries that are being used in the following games:

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

n. Any of various carnivorous oscine birds of the family Laniidae, having a screeching call and a strong hooked bill with a toothlike projection and often impaling its prey on sharp-pointed thorns or barbs of wire fencing.

Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

n. Any of various passerine birds of the family Laniidae which are known for their habit of catching other birds and small animals and impaling the uneaten portions of their bodies on thorns.

the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English

n. Any one of numerous species of oscinine birds of the family Laniidæ, having a strong hooked bill, toothed at the tip. Most shrikes are insectivorous, but the common European gray shrike (Lanius excubitor), the great northern shrike (L. borealis), and several others, kill mice, small birds, etc., and often impale them on thorns, and are, on that account called also butcher birds. See under butcher.

The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

n. An obsolete form of shriek.

n. A dentirostral oscine passerine bird of the family Laniidæ, having a notably strong hooked and toothed bill, and of actively predaceous nature; a butcher-bird; a nine-killer; a Wood-chat.

n. One of many different birds that resemble shrikes, or were held to belong to the genus Lanius.

WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

n. any of numerous Old World birds having a strong hooked bill that feed on smaller animals

Word Usage

"Sometimes we would carry 500 lb bombs, sometimes 750 lb bombs, sometimes 1000 lb bombs, and other times 3000 lb bombs as well as CBU and what they call a shrike missile."

Hypernym

Words that are more generic or abstract

oscine oscine bird

Cross Reference

cubla shrike white-headed shrike fork-tailed shrike hook-billed shrike senegal shrike

Variant

butcher birds butcher

Hyponym

lanius ludovicianus migrans bush shrike migrant shrike loggerhead shrike lanius lucovicianus

Form

cuckoo shrike

Same Context

Words that are found in similar contexts

kingbird cotton grass godwit bee-eater juleps