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bird of passage
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Bird of passage

Bird \Bird\ (b[~e]rd), n. [OE. brid, bred, bird, young bird, bird, AS. bridd young bird. [root]92.]

  1. Orig., a chicken; the young of a fowl; a young eaglet; a nestling; and hence, a feathered flying animal (see 2).

    That ungentle gull, the cuckoo's bird.
    --Shak.

    The brydds [birds] of the aier have nestes.
    --Tyndale (Matt. viii. 20).

  2. (Zo["o]l.) A warm-blooded, feathered vertebrate provided with wings. See Aves.

  3. Specifically, among sportsmen, a game bird.

  4. Fig.: A girl; a maiden.

    And by my word! the bonny bird In danger shall not tarry.
    --Campbell.

    Arabian bird, the phenix.

    Bird of Jove, the eagle.

    Bird of Juno, the peacock.

    Bird louse (Zo["o]l.), a wingless insect of the group Mallophaga, of which the genera and species are very numerous and mostly parasitic upon birds. -- Bird mite (Zo["o]l.), a small mite (genera Dermanyssus, Dermaleichus and allies) parasitic upon birds. The species are numerous.

    Bird of passage, a migratory bird.

    Bird spider (Zo["o]l.), a very large South American spider ( Mygale avicularia). It is said sometimes to capture and kill small birds.

    Bird tick (Zo["o]l.), a dipterous insect parasitic upon birds (genus Ornithomyia, and allies), usually winged.

Wiktionary
bird of passage

n. 1 A migratory bird, especially a passage migrant. 2 (context figuratively English) Someone passing through; an itinerant.

WordNet
bird of passage
  1. n. someone who leads a wandering unsettled life [syn: wanderer, roamer, rover]

  2. any bird that migrates seasonally