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Bird of paradise   /bərd əv pˈɛrədˌaɪs/   Listen
noun
Bird of paradise  n.  (Zool.) The name of several very beautiful birds of the genus Paradisea and allied genera, inhabiting New Guinea and the adjacent islands. The males have brilliant colors, elegant plumes, and often remarkable tail feathers. Note: The Great emerald (Paradisea apoda) and the Lesser emerald (Paradisea minor) furnish many of the plumes used as ornaments by ladies; the Red bird of paradise is Paradisea rubra or Paradisea sanguinea; the Golden bird of paradise is Parotia aurea or Parotia sexsetacea; the King bird of paradise is Cincinnurus regius. The name is also applied to the longer-billed birds of another related group (Epimachinae) from the same region. The Twelve-wired bird of paradise (Seleucides alba) is one of these. See Paradise bird, and Note under Apod.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Bird of paradise" Quotes from Famous Books



... no more doth stay Then He that built two Citties in one day; Ever brim full, and sometimes running o're To feede poore languid Witts that waite at doore, Who creep and creep, yet ne're above-ground stood, (For Creatures have most Feet which have least Blood) But thou art still that Bird of Paradise Which hath no feet and ever nobly flies: Rich, lusty Sence, such as the Poet ought, For Poems if not Excellent, are Naught; Low wit in Scenes? in state a Peasant goes; If meane and flat, let it foot Yeoman Prose, That ...
— The Works of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher in Ten Volumes - Volume I. • Beaumont and Fletcher

... the Hog-fish, the Dog-fish, the Dolphin, the Cony- fish, the Parrot-fish, the Shark, the Poison-fish, Sword-fish, and not only other incredible fish, but you may there see the Salamander, several sorts of Barnacles, of Solan-Geese, the Bird of Paradise, such sorts of Snakes, and such Birds'-nests, and of so various forms, and so wonderfully made, as may beget wonder and amusement in any beholder; and so many hundred of other rarities in that collection, as will make the other wonders I spake ...
— The Complete Angler • Izaak Walton

... bird-life known in these latitudes, from the bird of paradise down to the tiny scarlet-beaked love-birds. There were always parrots and parrakeets screaming in ...
— The Ragged Edge • Harold MacGrath

... minute ringlets, it hung to her waist and below it. A light blue velvet fillet clasped with a diamond aigrette (valued at two hundred thousand tomauns, and bought from Lieutenant Vicovich, who had received it from Dost Mahomed), with a simple bird of paradise, formed her head-gear. A sea-green cymar with short sleeves, displayed her exquisitely moulded arms to perfection, and was fastened by a girdle of emeralds over a yellow satin frock. Pink gauze trousers spangled with silver, and slippers of the same color ...
— Burlesques • William Makepeace Thackeray

... of December, in 15 deg., we observed the first bird of paradise—the most beautiful of equatorial sea-birds. On the 22nd we saw more of them, and on this day we passed the Tropic of Capricorn. Thus these observations agree with what is so elegantly said by Buffon on the limits of the ...
— The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888 • Ernest Favenc


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