1. [n]  warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings
2. [n]  badminton equipment consisting of a ball of cork or rubber with a crown of feathers
3. [n]  a cry or noise made to express displeasure or contempt
4. [n]  the flesh of a bird or fowl (wild or domestic) used as food
5. [n]  informal terms for a (young) woman
6. [v]  watch and study birds in their natural habitat

1. \Bird\ (b[~e]rd), n. [OE. brid, bred, bird, young bird,
   bird, AS. bridd young bird. [root]92.]
   1. Orig., a chicken; the young of a fowl; a young eaglet; a
      nestling; and hence, a feathered flying animal (see 2).
   
            That ungentle gull, the cuckoo's bird. --Shak.
   
            The brydds [birds] of the aier have nestes.
                                                  --Tyndale
                                                  (Matt. viii.
                                                  20).
   
   2. (Zo["o]l.) A warm-blooded, feathered vertebrate provided
      with wings. See {Aves}.
   
   3. Specifically, among sportsmen, a game bird.
   
   4. Fig.: A girl; a maiden.
   
            And by my word! the bonny bird In danger shall not
            tarry.                                --Campbell.
   
   {Arabian bird}, the phenix.
   
   {Bird of Jove}, the eagle.
   
   {Bird of Juno}, the peacock.
   
   {Bird louse} (Zo["o]l.), a wingless insect of the group
      Mallophaga, of which the genera and species are very
      numerous and mostly parasitic upon birds. -- Bird mite
      (Zo["o]l.), a small mite (genera {Dermanyssus},
      {Dermaleichus} and allies) parasitic upon birds. The
      species are numerous.
   
   {Bird of passage}, a migratory bird.
   
   {Bird spider} (Zo["o]l.), a very large South American spider
      ({Mygale avicularia}). It is said sometimes to capture and
      kill small birds.
   
   {Bird tick} (Zo["o]l.), a dipterous insect parasitic upon
      birds (genus {Ornithomyia}, and allies), usually winged.
   
   

2. \Bird\, v. i.
   1. To catch or shoot birds.
   
   2. Hence: To seek for game or plunder; to thieve. [R.] --B.
      Jonson.
   
   

Birds are divided in the Mosaic law into two classes, (1) the clean (Lev. 1:14-17; 5:7-10; 14:4-7), which were offered in sacrifice; and (2) the unclean (Lev. 11:13-20). When offered in sacrifice, they were not divided as other victims were (Gen. 15:10). They are mentioned also as an article of food (Deut. 14:11). The art of snaring wild birds is referred to (Ps. 124:7; Prov. 1:17; 7:23; Jer. 5:27). Singing birds are mentioned in Ps. 104:12; Eccl. 12:4. Their timidity is alluded to (Hos. 11:11). The reference in Ps. 84:3 to the swallow and the sparrow may be only a comparison equivalent to, "What her house is to the sparrow, and her nest to the swallow, that thine altars are to my soul."