Crossword clues for hoopoe
hoopoe
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Hoopoe \Hoop"oe\, Hoopoo \Hoop"oo\, n. [So called from its cry; cf. L. upupa, Gr. ?, D. hop, F. huppe; cf. also G. wiedenhopf, OHG. wituhopfo, lit., wood hopper.] (Zo["o]l.) A European bird of the genus Upupa ( Upupa epops), having a beautiful crest, which it can erect or depress at pleasure, and a slender down-curving bill. Called also hoop, whoop. The name is also applied to several other species of the same genus and allied genera.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1660s, from Latin upupa, imitative of its cry (compare Greek epops "hoopoe").If anybody smears himself with the blood of this bird on his way to bed, he will have nightmares about suffocating devils. [Cambridge bestiary, 12c.]
Wiktionary
n. An Old World bird, ''Upupa epops'', known for its distinctive plumage, fanlike crest, and slender bill.
WordNet
n. any of several crested Old World birds with a slender down-curving bill [syn: hoopoo]
Wikipedia
The hoopoe (Upupa epops) is a colourful bird found across Afro-Eurasia, notable for its distinctive "crown" of feathers. It is the only extant species in the family Upupidae. One insular species, the Saint Helena hoopoe, is extinct, and the Madagascar subspecies of the hoopoe is sometimes elevated to a full species.
Upupa and epops are respectively the Latin and Ancient Greek names for the hoopoe; both, like the English name, are onomatopoeic forms which imitate the cry of the bird.
Usage examples of "hoopoe".
When told what he had eaten, Tereus tried to kill both sisters, but Zeus turned them all into birds: Procne became the nightingale, eternally mourning Itys, Philomela the swallow and Tereus the hoopoe.
It was a wonderfully beautiful day, with a slight and varying but reasonably favourable breeze at last: the sun blazed on the various kinds of broom in flower, upon the Rock, upon the cistuses and giant heath, while an uninterrupted stream of migrant birds, honey-buzzards, black kites, all the European vultures, storks both black and white, bee-eaters, hoopoes and countless hirundines flowed across the sky amidst a general indifference.
He walked with Ahmed Ismail at his elbow on the green lawns where the golden-crested hoopoes flashed in the sunlight and the ruined buildings stood agape to the air.
She had spent some time learning them, the hollow cry of hoopoes, golden orioles fluting or giving their distinctive raucous cat-screams.
The air was loud with wings and birdsong, plovers and wood doves, hoopoes and rollers.