Crossword clues for yardbird
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
alt. 1 (context chiefly US slang English) A chicken. 2 (context chiefly US slang English) A person who is imprisoned. 3 (context chiefly US slang English) A soldier who is required to perform menial work on the grounds of a military base. n. 1 (context chiefly US slang English) A chicken. 2 (context chiefly US slang English) A person who is imprisoned. 3 (context chiefly US slang English) A soldier who is required to perform menial work on the grounds of a military base.
Wikipedia
A yardbird is post- Second World War African American slang for "prisoner", from the notion of prison yards. During the Second World War, in the armed forces it meant "basic trainee", as they spent most of their time in the yards.
In the Deep South of the United States, the word also means chicken. In one explanation for American saxophonist Charlie Parker's nickname being "Yardbird", jazz trombonist and blues singer Clyde E. B. Berhardt in his autobiography I Remember: Eighty Years of Black Entertainment, Big Bands, states:
Jazz pianist Jay McShann backs up the story in an interview in 1999:
Yardbird was the name of a Usenet child pornography ring, an approximate third of whose members were arrested in 2006; the eponymous leader remains at large.
Usage examples of "yardbird".
Stencil had thus become partially lost to the street and the yardbird across it.
He concentrated on being Juve, and Juve was checking out the scene, with long Yardbird Parker riffs, all staccato, in his head.
When the bus arrived they got on with a few straggling yardbirds and many Scaffold sailors, who sat in the back and sang.
As the river crept forward sailors and yardbirds hurriedly covered it with the leaves of a few morning newspapers, left lying on the seats.
Workers from England got a colonial allowance: local yardbirds received only normal wages.
Bolshevists among the yardbirds could only be satisfied with the abolition of all private property, sacred or profane.
Maijstral reported twice a week, giving a general picture of deepening discontent among the yardbirds, but they were afflicted by a soggy lethargy which must wait for the heat of summer to dry it, the spark of a leader, a Mizzi or equivalent, to touch it into anything more explosive.
Mattie wanted to charge a replacement window at Yardbirds right away, but Daniel argued for some time.
Johanan Vigoda, brought members of the Yardbirds and the Kinks and their manager over to see me at the Night Owl.
The quitting time whistle blew, and Pappy and Clyde were caught all at once in a torrent of yardbirds: disgorged from earth, vessels and pissoirs, all heading for the gate.
Workers from England got a colonial allowance: local yardbirds received only normal wages.
I doubt that even you yardbirds could have screwed it up already, but we'll see.
The eight Yardbirds, all cuffed, were escorted aboard by two Bahamian Police sergeants, who had come to collect them.
While the rest of the company is being quartered in the local militia barracks, which I've looked over and ain't half bad, you yardbirds are going to be up in the castle.