sween.
/swiː/ A South African species of waxbill ( Estrilda dufresnii), so called from its note.
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the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > seed eaters > [noun] > family Estrildidae (wax-bill) > genus Estrilda
rooibekkie1793
swee1908
king of six1913
1908 A. K. Haagner & R. H. Ivy Sketches S. Afr. Bird-life iv. 68 The Swee Waxbill (E[strilda] dufresnii) is the best known species in the South-eastern Province of Cape Colony.
Derivatives
swee-swee v. intransitive to utter a note like the syllable ‘swee’ repeated; to chirp shrilly.
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the world > animals > birds > sound or bird defined by > [verb (intransitive)] > chirp or twitter
chirmOE
chattera1250
janglea1300
jargon?a1366
chirkc1386
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chirpc1440
yipc1440
channerc1480
quitter1513
chirrup1579
chipper1593
pip1598
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sweet1677
shatter17..
swee-swee1839
weet-weet1845
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tweet1856
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1839 D. M. Moir Life Mansie Wauch (rev. ed.) xxii. 276 The grand carved roofs, where the swallows swee-sweed, as they darted through the open windows.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms Swee,..Estrilda dufresnii. It owes its popular name to its cry of ‘swee-swee’.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1918; most recently modified version published online September 2018).
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