Waxwing

//ˈwæksˌwɪŋ// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any of several songbirds of the genus Bombycilla, having crested heads, and red tips to the wings.

    "I was the shadow of the waxwing slain By the false azure in the windowpane; I was the smudge of ashen fluff—and I Lived on, flew on, in the reflected sky."

  2. 2
    brown velvety-plumaged songbirds of the Northern Hemisphere having crested heads and red waxy wing tips wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
magpie

Example

More examples

"We may wonder why some crested birds have this regal insignia bestowed upon them by nature, but it would be impossible to think of the waxwing without his crowning glory."

Etymology

From wax + wing.

Related phrases

American waxwingBohemian waxwingJapanese waxwingcedar waxwing

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