shrike
/ʃɹaɪk/ noun
Forms shrikes
- noun Any of various passerine birds of the family Laniidae which are known for their habit of catching other birds and small animals and impaling the uneaten portions of their bodies on thorns.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English *schrike, *schryke, from Old English sċrīc (“shrike, thrush”), from the same root as shriek and screech, named after the bird's cry. Compare Icelandic skríkja (“shrieker, shrike”), Swedish skrika (“jay”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun Any one of numerous species of oscinine birds of the family Laniidæ, having a strong hooked bill, toothed at the tip. Most shrikes are insectivorous, but the common European gray shrike (Lanius excubitor), the great northern shrike (L. borealis), and several others, kill mice, small birds, etc., and often impale them on thorns, and are, on that account called also butcher birds. See under Butcher.
Etymology [Akin to Icel. skrikja a shrieker, the shrike, and E. shriek; cf. AS. scric a thrush. See Shriek, v. i.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “shrike”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details