α. 1600s sunnes bird, 1600s suns bird, 1700s sun's bird.
β. 1600s– sunbird.
sunbirdn.
/ˈsʌnbəːd/, U.S. /ˈsənˌbərd/ 1. Originally poetic. Any of various real or mythical birds sacred to, or otherwise associated with, the sun; (also) the sun regarded or imagined as a bird.In early use in form sun's bird; now usually hyphenated or as two words.In quot. 1616 referring to a weathercock.In quot. 2004 the garuda (see garuda n. a).
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the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > mythical creature or object > [noun] > types of mythical bird
pelicanOE
tiger1481
Stymphalid1560
roc1579
mamuque?1590
firebird1601
sunbird1616
ganzaa1633
cocklicrane1653
white bird1697
wakon-bird1778
simurgh1786
thunder-birda1827
huma1841
oozlum bird1858
lightning bird1870
jubjub1871
ho-ho bird1901
storm-bird1913
the world > animals > birds > [noun] > connected with sun-worship
sunbird1871
the world > the supernatural > deity > [noun] > bird or stone sacred to the sun
sunstone1828
sunbird1871
the world > the supernatural > deity > [noun] > specific thing as > animal as > bird connected with sun worship
sunbird1871
1616 T. Scot Philomythie sig. I The Suns Birde, who doth tidings bring, Of his approach & rising.
1637 S. Marmion Morall Poem: Cupid & Psyche i. sig. Cv The Sunnes Bird, the Phœnix fled farre off.
1705 N. Tate Triumph 18 Th' Auspicious, Bold, First Flight of the Sun's Bird admire.
1832 J. F. Pennie Arixina ii. iv, in Brit. Hist. Drama 48 Shout, Britons, to the charge! like thunder rolling From cliff to cliff along the midnight hills, Waking the drowsy sun-bird.
1871 E. B. Tylor Primitive Culture II. xvi. 262 When at mid-day the sunlight poured down upon the altar,..the sun-birds, the tonatzuli, were let fly up sunward as messengers.
1904 E. A. T. W. Budge Guide 3rd & 4th Egypt. Rooms Brit. Museum 122 The Sun-god Rā was depicted..in the form of a hawk-headed man, because the hawk was regarded as a sun-bird.
1971 R. van den Broek Myth of Phoenix ii. 14 The ancient Egyptians in Heliopolis..worshipped a sun bird that was called benu.
2004 Econ. Bot. 58 Suppl. S163/1 The classical avian figure is clearly identical to the..sun-bird of Vedic mythology.
2. † a. A bird of the family Heliornithidae, esp. the sungrebe, Heliornis fulica. Also called American finfoot. Obsolete.The identity of the bird in quot. 1727 is uncertain.
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the world > animals > birds > order Gruiformes > [noun] > member of family Heliornithidae (finfoot)
sunbird1727
fin-foot1849
1727 Daily Post 15 Dec. 1/3 One Sun Bird from Buenos Ayres.
1785 J. Latham Gen. Synopsis Birds III. ii. 626 Surinam D[arter]... It is often domesticated by the inhabitants, and known to them by the name of the Sun Bird.
a1798 T. Pennant Tour on Continent (1948) 156 Saw the collection of birds belonging to Doctor Voet, numerous and well preserved. Among them is a large Bittern, black spotted with yellow... A beautiful one called the Sunbird; all from Surinam.
1807 H. Bolingbroke Voy. Demerary xii. 240 The sun bird is not unlike the partridge of England, but a little larger; when procured tame they are kept in houses to destroy the ants, with which this land abounds.
1851 S. F. Baird tr. J. G. Heck Iconogr. Encycl. II. Zool. 387 The sun bird or sun grebe of South America, Heliornis surinamensis..is chiefly seen on the banks of rivers and creeks, and possesses considerable beauty of plumage.
1872 E. Coues Key to N. Amer. Birds 242 The sun-birds, Heliornithidæ, are a small but remarkable family.
b. The sunbittern, Eurypyga helias. Now rare.
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the world > animals > birds > order Gruiformes > [noun] > eurypyga helias (sun-bittern)
sunbird1800
sunbittern1861
1800 Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc. 1st Ser. VI. 3 A small species of Peacock, about the size of a partridge, called the Sun Bird.
1820 Morning Chron. 27 Apr. 1/3 A Bird, of the size of a Curliew, speckled brown and black, long bill, red eyes, known in South America by the name of Sun-bird, or Fly-catcher.
1871 C. Kingsley At Last I. v. 179 His name is Sun-bird,..according to..Stedman, ‘because, when it extends its wings,..there appears on the interior part of each wing a most beautiful representation of a sun’.
1897 Timehri 11 223 The Eurypygidæ or Sun Bitterns are a small family of only two species, the common Sunbird Eurypyga helias and the Central American form E. major.
1949 Internat. Jrnl. Amer. Linguistics 15 72/2 Sun bird (Eurypyga helias).
c. Any of various small songbirds of the family Nectariniidae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Asia, and Australia, which typically have long, downcurved bills and tubular tongues for feeding on nectar, and (in breeding males) brightly-coloured or iridescent plumage. Frequently with distinguishing word.malachite sunbird: see the first element.
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the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > arboreal families > [noun] > family Nectariniidae (sun-bird)
sugar-eater1796
sugar-bird1798
sunbird1826
nectar bird1842
1826 J. F. Stephens Shaw's Gen. Zool. XIV. 229 Genus CCLXV.—Cinnyris, Cuvier. Sun-bird.
1859 J. E. Tennent Ceylon I. ii. ii. 168 Beneath our windows the Sun Birds (known as the Humming Birds of Ceylon) hover all day long.
1879 E. P. Wright Animal Life 254 The Sun Birds, or Nectariniadæ, are to the Old World what the Humming Birds are to the New World... One species is met so far north as the Jordan valley..called the Jericho Sun Bird (Cinnyris osea).
1922 Times 22 Oct. 8/3 There is much honey in the base of the flower, and in its native home it is visited by the long-beaked and gaily-coloured sun-birds.
1948 Wilson Bull. 60 159 The call note of the Yellow-breasted Sunbird was an undistinguished tweet tweet.
1994 Afr. Environment & Wildlife Nov. 6/4 Cultivated orchards will be sprayed with insecticides, and..sunbirds may run the risk of being shot or poisoned to keep them off the cultivated flowerheads.
2013 S. Pritchard-Jones & B. Gibbons Annapurna 22/2 Smart sunbirds found in flowering trees include the..fire-tailed and purple sunbird.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, January 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1616