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A sticky adhesive that is smeared on small branches to capture small birds
Answer for the clue "A sticky adhesive that is smeared on small branches to capture small birds ", 8 letters:
birdlime
Alternative clues for the word birdlime
Word definitions for birdlime in dictionaries
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
viscous sticky stuff prepared from holly bark and used to catch small birds, mid-15c., from bird (n.1) + lime (n.1). Used as rhyming slang for time (especially time in prison) by 1857.
WordNet
Word definitions in WordNet
n. a sticky adhesive that is smeared on small branches to capture small birds [syn: lime ] v. spread birdlime on branches to catch birds [syn: lime ]
Wiktionary
Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. 1 A sticky substance smeared on branches to catch birds. 2 (''rhyming slang'') time; a jail term, the serving of a prison sentence. vb. (context transitive English) to add birdlime to
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Word definitions in The Collaborative International Dictionary
Birdlime \Bird"lime`\, n. [Bird + lime viscous substance.] An extremely adhesive viscid substance, usually made of the middle bark of the holly, by boiling, fermenting, and cleansing it. When a twig is smeared with this substance it will hold small birds ...
Wikipedia
Word definitions in Wikipedia
Birdlime or bird lime is an adhesive substance used in trapping birds. It is spread on a branch or twig, upon which a bird may land and be caught. Its use is illegal in many jurisdictions.
Usage examples of birdlime.
For the statues were half-eaten by birdlime anc some of their heads had been knocked off, and since no one hac tended this place in over half a year, heather and wild oats had begur to seed amidst the cracks.
At the rock, I smeared into the groove some birdlime made from the inner bark of a holly, which must be the stickiest substance there is.
In what had once been an aviary, a room littered with broken screens and rusted cages and birdlime, thousands of carrion beetles were feasting on the carcass of a huge and unidentifiable animal.
Round about was a strew of papers, eggshells, calipers, and lenses: the birdlimed, dusty ruins, I feared, of oölogical research.
In the north of England, Holly was formerly so abundant in the Lake District, that birdlime was made from it in large quantities and shipped to the East Indies for destroying insects.
Across the bay, Fort Albert loomed on the headland and below, the cliffs were splashed with birdlime, sea-birds wheeling in great clouds, gulls, shags, razorbills and oyster-catchers.