wheatear

wheatear
wheatear type of bird, 1590s, back-formation from white-ears, lit. "white-arse" (see WHITE (Cf. white) + ARSE (Cf. arse)). So called for its color markings; Cf. French name for the bird, cul-blanc, lit. "white rump."

Etymology dictionary. 2014.

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  • Wheatear — Wheat ear , n. (Zo[ o]l.) A small European singing bird ({Saxicola [oe]nanthe}). The male is white beneath, bluish gray above, with black wings and a black stripe through each eye. The tail is black at the tip and in the middle, but white at the… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • wheatear — ► NOUN ▪ a songbird with black and grey, buff, or white plumage and a white rump. ORIGIN apparently from WHITE(Cf. ↑whitish) + ARSE(Cf. ↑arse) …   English terms dictionary

  • wheatear — [hwēt′ir΄, wēt′ir΄] n. [earlier white ears < WHITE + eeres, ers, var. of ARSE: in reference to its white rump] any of a genus (Oenanthe) of small, long legged, migrating thrushes native to the Old World, esp. a species ( O. oenanthe) now in… …   English World dictionary

  • Wheatear — Wheatears Northern Wheatear (male) Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia …   Wikipedia

  • wheatear — noun Etymology: back formation from earlier wheatears wheatear, probably by folk etymology or euphemism from white + arse Date: 1591 any of various small thrushes (genus Oenanthe); especially a white rumped one (O. oenanthe) of northern North… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • wheatear — /hweet ear , weet /, n. any of several small, chiefly Old World thrushes of the genus Oenanthe, having a distinctive white rump, esp. O. oenanthe, of Eurasia and North America. [1585 95; prob. back formation from wheatears, for *whiteers white… …   Universalium

  • wheatear — [16] The wheatear is etymologically the ‘white arsed’ bird. The word is a backformation from an earlier wheatears, a singular form which came to be regarded as plural. And wheatears in turn was an alteration (due no doubt to confusion with wheat) …   The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

  • wheatear — /ˈwitɪə/ (say weetear) noun any of various birds of the genus Oenanthe, family Muscicapidae, which have a white rump, as the northern wheatear, O. oenanthe, of the Northern Hemisphere. {backformation from wheatears, conceived of as a plural,… …  

  • wheatear — kūltupiai statusas T sritis zoologija | vardynas atitikmenys: lot. Oenanthe angl. wheatear vok. Steinschmätzer, m rus. каменка, f pranc. traquet, m ryšiai: platesnis terminas – kiauliukės siauresnis terminas – baltagalvis kūltupys siauresnis… …   Paukščių pavadinimų žodynas

  • wheatear — [16] The wheatear is etymologically the ‘white arsed’ bird. The word is a backformation from an earlier wheatears, a singular form which came to be regarded as plural. And wheatears in turn was an alteration (due no doubt to confusion with wheat) …   Word origins

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