Mavis
name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 song thrush poetic
"At midnight the moon cometh, / And looketh down alone; / Her song the lintwhite swelleth, / The clear voiced mavis dwelleth […]"
- 2 common Old World thrush noted for its song wordnet
- 1 A female given name from English.
""Rather an odd name, Mavis, isn't it?" I at last ventured to observe. "Yes, - but it suits her wonderfully. She sings quite as sweetly as any thrush, so she merits her designation.""
Example
More examples""Rather an odd name, Mavis, isn't it?" I at last ventured to observe. "Yes, - but it suits her wonderfully. She sings quite as sweetly as any thrush, so she merits her designation.""
Etymology
Coined at the end of the 19th century from mavis, a poetical name for the song thrush.
From Middle English mavys, from Anglo-Norman mauvis, from Old French mauvis (“song thrush”).
Related phrases
More for "mavis"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.