boat-billedadj.
/ˈbəʊtbɪld/, U.S. /ˈboʊtˌbɪld/ Chiefly in the names of birds: having a broad beak likened to the hull of a boat. Compare boatbill n. See also Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > parts of or bird defined by > [adjective] > having beak or bill > of particular shape
long-billed1594
latirostrous1646
bill-twisteda1657
spoon-billed1668
hook-billed1695
slender-billed1769
thick-billed1770
bow-beaked1791
boat-billed1821
slender-beaked1824
tenuirostral1837
broad-billed1839
planirostrate1858
tenuirostrate1860
planirostral1890
1821 J. Latham Gen. Hist. Birds I. 59 Tody, boat-billed.
1822 J. Latham Gen. Hist. Birds IV. xxxi. 97 (heading) Boat-billed Tody... Bill remarkable in structure being three eighths of an inch broad, and not more in length; upper mandible a little bent at the point, the whole much depressed as in the Boat-bill, colour brown.
1881 G. Allen Vignettes from Nature xi. 111 Some of them [sc. waders] are even webfooted, and others boatbilled.
1900 H. D. Astley My Birds in Freedom & Captivity xv. 249 And again the sun's rays shone on the pelicans' breasts, as..the great boat-billed birds flapped high above us in wonderful riband-like lines.
1917 Geogr. Jrnl. 50 211 The great blue-grey boat-billed aberrant stork (Balæniceps rex) is common on the Jur.
1979 H. Jaffe Mole's Pity 58 Mole spotted a boat-billed kiskadee pecking at the surf among a horde of noisy grackles.
2009 N. Drayson Guide Birds East Afr. xxiii. 110 Pelicans (white and spotted) and storks (black, white, woolly-necked, saddle-billed, boat-billed, open-billed and yellow-billed).
Compounds
boat-billed flycatcher n. (a) either of two Australasian boatbills of the genus Machaerirhynchus; = boatbill n. 2a; (b) a large, yellow-breasted tyrant flycatcher of tropical America, Megarynchus pitangua (family Tyrannidae), having a broad, somewhat flattened bill.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > [noun] > miscellaneous groups or types
Strasbourg finch1783
oscines1853
New Zealand robin1855
lark bunting1858
boat-billed flycatcher1869
oscine1883
bush robin1901
antpitta1911
boatbill1930
parson bird1945
1869 A. R. Wallace Malay Archipel. I. xxxix. 178 The curious little boat-billed flycatchers (Machærirhynchus).
1914 Condor 16 12 One other species may at first sight be mistaken for derbianus, namely, the Mexican Boat-billed Flycatcher (Megarynchus pitangua mexicanus).
1944 Wilson Bull. 56 149 The Boat-billed Flycatcher (Megarhynchus pitangua), a giant in its family, has a strong antipathy to the Swainson's Toucan.
1998 Audubon Jan. 116/2 The program presents a kaleidoscope of tropical colors, thanks to the appearance of toucans, palm tanagers, and boat-billed flycatchers.
boat-billed heron n. [compare earlier boatbill heron at boatbill n. 1] (a) a largely nocturnal heron of Central and South America, Cochlearia cochlearia (family Ardeidae), with a large boat-shaped bill and predominantly pale grey plumage; cf. boatbill n. 1; †(b) the shoebill, Balaeniceps rex (family Balaenicipitidae) (obsolete).
ΚΠ
1872 E. Coues Key to N. Amer. Birds 265 The boat-billed heron of Central America, with a singular shape of the bill that has suggested the name.., constitutes one subfamily, Cancrominæ.
1876 A. R. Wallace Geogr. Distrib. Animals I. xi. 260 Balæniceps, the great boat-billed heron of the Upper Nile.
1925 St. Nicholas Nov. 95/1 The boat-billed heron is a native of South America.
2005 Wilson Bull. 117 150/2 Only once..was a colony of Boat-billed Herons (Cochlearius cochlearius) observed within a few hundred meters of a Jabiru nest.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.1821