bird

bird

1. slang A woman or girl, especially a romantic partner or someone of sexual interest. Primarily heard in UK. Who was the bird you were with last night? She was quite a looker. I know Tom wants to come with us this weekend, but his bird wants him home to help with the kids.
2. A man of some peculiar quality (indicated by a preceding modifier). Don't worry, Grandpa's a tough old bird. I'm sure he'll be out of the hospital in no time. Some odd-looking bird came into the shop today looking for a rare antique.
3. slang An airplane. This bird may look a bit beat up, but she still flies like a dream.
4. slang A satellite. The network recently launched a bird into orbit to provide their new premium TV service.
5. slang Time in prison. A shortening of the phrase "birdlime," Cockney rhyming slang for "(prison) time." Primarily heard in UK. A: "I 'eard Bill's doing bird again." B: "Yep, six years in Thameside."

the bird

1. A rude gesture in which one's middle finger is raised, typically to show anger, disdain, or insolence. Usually used with the verbs "give" or "flip." What are you giving me the bird for? All I said was that your dress really makes you look slim! I flipped my brother the bird after he told me to go mow the lawn for him.
2. Prompt, unceremonious dismissal from one's job, role, or position. Primarily heard in UK. I heard Bill got the bird for screwing up the Robertson accounts.
3. Verbal derision, such as hissing or booing, aimed at a performer or athlete. Primarily heard in UK. The crowd gave that player the bird after he dropped the ball. She stumbled onto the stage so intoxicated that she couldn't even remember the words to the song, and she promptly got the bird from the audience.
See also: bird
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

bird

1. n. a woman; a girl. I like the bird you were with last night.
2. n. a derisive noise made with the lips; a raspberry. The third time he fumbled, he was greeted by two thousand mouths making the bird.
3. n. an odd person. Some old bird came up to me and tried to sell me a cookbook.
4. n. a rude gesture made with the middle finger. (Usually with the. See comments at finger wave.) A lot of little kids give people the bird all the time because they see it on television.
5. n. an airplane. I like this bird. She’s a dream to fly.
6. n. one hundred dollars. This thing cost three birds! Bull!
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See:
  • (as) free as (the) air
  • (as) free as a bird
  • (not) a dicky bird
  • a bird in hand
  • a bird in the hand
  • a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
  • a bird of passage
  • a bird's eye shot
  • a bird's eye view
  • a bird's-eye view
  • a box of birds
  • a home bird
  • a little bird
  • a little bird told me
  • a rare bird
  • an early bird
  • be (like) a bird in a gilded cage
  • be (strictly) for the birds
  • be a box of birds
  • bird
  • bird has flown, the
  • bird in (one's) bosom
  • bird in the hand
  • bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
  • bird in the hand, a
  • bird of (one's) own brain
  • bird of passage
  • bird watcher
  • bird-brain
  • bird-brained
  • bird-dog
  • birds and the bees, the
  • bird's eye view
  • birds in their little nests agree
  • birds of a feather
  • birds of a feather (flock together)
  • birds of a feather flock together
  • birds of a feather fly together
  • birdseed
  • bird's-eye view
  • bird's-eye view, a
  • birdturd
  • boo bird
  • boo-bird
  • do bird
  • early bird
  • early bird catches the worm
  • early bird catches the worm, the
  • early bird special
  • eat like a bird
  • eat like a bird/horse, to
  • eye-view
  • fine feathers make fine birds
  • flip (one) the bird
  • flip off
  • flip someone the bird
  • flip/give/shoot somebody the bird
  • flush out the bird
  • flush the birds out of the bushes
  • for the birds
  • for the birds, it's/that's
  • free as a bird
  • free as air/as a bird
  • free bird
  • ghetto bird
  • give (one) the bird
  • give someone the bird
  • have a bird
  • hit two birds with one stone
  • home bird
  • it's an ill bird that fouls its own nest
  • kill two birds with one stone
  • kill two birds with one stone, to
  • king of birds
  • ladybug, ladybug, fly away home
  • little bird told me
  • little bird told me, a
  • little bird told one, a
  • not a dicky bird
  • not hear a dicky bird
  • not say a dicky bird
  • not say/hear a dicky bird
  • odd bird
  • old bird
  • on the bird
  • rare bird
  • rare bird, a
  • shoot (one) the bird
  • snowbird
  • strange bird
  • strictly for the birds
  • the bird
  • the bird has flown
  • the birds and the bees
  • the early bird catches the worm
  • the early bird gets the worm
  • two birds with one stone
  • wading bird
  • whirlybird
  • yardbird
References in classic literature
The fairies have their tiffs with the birds, but they usually give a civil answer to a civil question, and he was quite angry when these two ran away the moment they saw him.
The Little White Bird
Nevertheless the bird was determined to save him if she could, and by one last mighty effort she propelled the nest against the rock.
The Adventures of Peter Pan
I had Miss Sophia's bird in my hand, and thinking the poor creature languished for liberty, I own I could not forbear giving it what it desired; for I always thought there was something very cruel in confining anything.
The History of Tom Jones a Foundling
Before the castle gate all was as the fox had said: so the son went in and found the chamber where the golden bird hung in a wooden cage, and below stood the golden cage, and the three golden apples that had been lost were lying close by it.
Fairy Tales
I will mention only two other birds, which are very common, and render themselves prominent from their habits.
The Voyage of the Beagle
Bird, seeing the defenceless condition of the enemy's territory, had no more conscience than to push her advantage.
Uncle Toms Cabin
If you manage to avoid this pitfall, and to reach the top of the mountain, you will find there the Talking Bird in a splendid cage, and you can ask of him where you are to seek the Singing Tree and the Golden Water.
Arabian Nights
'We will wait,' said the first bird, 'and see how they get on together.'
Yellow Fairy Book
But if my wishes were satisfied by the possession of the bird of paradise, the Canadian's were not yet.
20000 Leagues Under The Sea
"Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting "Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Poems
"Be that our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, upstarting-- "Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!
Raven
The birds twittered more and more loudly and busily in the thicket.
Anna Karenina
“You have grown wordy, since the affair of the turkey; but if you are for a single shot, here goes at that bird which comes on by himself.”
Pioneers
Peter's heart was so glad that he felt he must sing all day long, just as the birds sing for joy, but, being partly human, he needed in instrument, so he made a pipe of reeds, and he used to sit by the shore of the island of an evening, practising the sough of the wind and the ripple of the water, and catching handfuls of the shine of the moon, and he put them all in his pipe and played them so beautifully that even the birds were deceived, and they would say to each other, "Was that a fish leaping in the water or was it Peter playing leaping fish on his pipe?" and sometimes he played the birth of birds, and then the mothers would turn round in their nests to see whether they had laid an egg.
Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens
It would be easy to show that several distinct mental actions are commonly embraced by this term; but every one understands what is meant, when it is said that instinct impels the cuckoo to migrate and to lay her eggs in other birds' nests.
The Origin of Species