nounany small northern songbird of the genus Oenanthe, esp O. oenanthe, a species having a pale grey back, black wings and tail, white rump, and pale brown underparts: subfamily Turdinae (thrushes)
Word origin
C16: back formation from
wheatears (wrongly taken as plural), probably from
white +
arse; compare Dutch
witstaart, French
culblanc white tail