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catbird

Pronunciation: /ˈkatbəːd/
Definition of catbird

noun

  • 1a long-tailed American songbird of the mockingbird family, with mainly dark grey or black plumage and catlike mewing calls.
    • Two genera and species, family Mimidae
  • 2a thickset Australasian bird of the bowerbird family, having a loud call like a yowling cat.
    • Genus Ailuroedus (and Scenopoeetes), family Ptilonorhynchidae: several species

Phrases

in the catbird seat

North American informal in a superior or advantageous position: we’ll stay in the catbird seat in international agriculture
[said to be an allusion to a baseball player in the fortunate position of having no strikes and therefore three balls still to play (a reference made in James Thurber's short story The Catbird Seat)]

catbird in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of catbird in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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