noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Any of several species of swifts of Apodinae, having shafts of the tailfeathers terminate in rigid spines.
2. 2
   Any of several species of South American and Central American clamatorial birds belonging to Synallaxis and allied genera of the ovenbird family Furnariidae.
3. 3
   A ruddy duck (Oxyura jamaicensis). US, dialectal

Synonyms

All synonyms

swift

Etymology

From spine + tail.

Related phrases

Apurímac spinetailAraguaia spinetailAzara's spinetailBahia spinetailBöhm's spinetailCabanis's spinetailCassin's spinetailChinchiope spinetailMadagascan spinetailMadagascar spinetailMalagasy spinetailMarañón spinetail

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.