Crossword clues for grosbeak
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Grosbeak \Gros"beak\, n. [Gross + beak: cf. F. gros-bec.] (Zo["o]l.) One of various species of finches having a large, stout beak. The common European grosbeak or hawfinch is Coccothraustes vulgaris.
Note: Among the best known American species are the rose-breasted ( Habia Ludoviciana); the blue ( Guiraca c[oe]rulea); the pine ( Pinicola enucleator); and the evening grosbeak. See Hawfinch, and Cardinal grosbeak, Evening grosbeak, under Cardinal and Evening. [Written also grossbeak.]
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
n. Any of several finches and cardinals that have a large, powerful bill
WordNet
n. any of various finches of Europe or America having a massive and powerful bill [syn: grossbeak]
Wikipedia
Grosbeak is a form taxon containing various species of seed-eating passerine birds with large beaks. Although they all belong to the superfamily Passeroidea, these birds are not part of a natural group but rather a polyphyletic assemblage of distantly related songbirds. Some are cardueline finches in the family Fringillidae, while others are cardinals in the family Cardinalidae; one is a member of the weaver family Ploceidae. The word "grosbeak", first applied in the late 1670s, is a partial translation of the French grosbec, where gros means "large" and bec means "beak".
The following is a list of grosbeak species, arranged in groups of closely related genera. These genera are more closely related to smaller-billed birds than to other grosbeaks. The single exception are the three genera of "typical grosbeak finches", which form a group of closest living relatives and might thus be considered the "true" grosbeaks.
Usage examples of "grosbeak".
Like Grosbeak, these people gathered information from their spies and sent it to Quedanga, who made sure that everyone who should see it did, including Aly.
Tammy said, as a thousand red-breasted grosbeaks settled like feathery locusts in the trees surrounding the clearing.
There were more birds: crows and robins, jays and grosbeaks, neocaths and nuthatches.
Then a catbird and a brown thrush sang against a grosbeak and a hermit thrush.
She talked to the grosbeak in exactly the same manner, as she laid strawberries and potato bugs on the fence for his family.
Then the grosbeaks, chats, and vireos had something to say, and the sun rose higher, the light grew stronger and the breeze rustled the treetops loudly.