Definition of parrot in English:
parrot
nounPlural parrots ˈparətˈpɛrət
A bird, often vividly coloured, with a short downcurved hooked bill, grasping feet, and a raucous voice, found especially in the tropics and feeding on fruits and seeds. Many are popular as cage birds, and some are able to mimic the human voice.
Order Psittaciformes: numerous species, sometimes all placed in the family Psittacidae. The order also contains the cockatoos, lories, lovebirds, macaws, conures, and budgerigar
- I forget her name, but she was green and had parrot feet (a green parrot is a symbol for marijuana in India, as well).
- You can attract birds like eastern rosellas, king parrots, galahs and lorikeets to your garden.
- The young parrot's foot became caught between a pine cone and the wire that secured it.
- This talent to imitate, observable in parrots and some other bird species, is not an ability that can be acquired by coincidence.
- Bird watchers are drawn from all over the world in search of species such as parrots, parakeets, hyacinth macaws, and wood storks.
- Whistling bowerbirds and whip-cracking riflebirds complement parrots and honeyeaters.
- They went through the bird house, marveling at toucans, parrots, birds of paradise.
- Thick-billed parrots are colorful, noisy, social birds that electrify the region's high pine and oak forests.
- It is not the mere articulation which is our distinguishing character, for parrots and other birds possess this power.
- Song birds in the mating season seem to sing endlessly, and some birds, such as parrots or lyre birds, can even imitate human speech almost to perfection.
- Your parrot could catch its feet into the clumps and could get hurt while struggling to escape.
- This bacterium is primarily carried by birds such as parakeets, parrots, pigeons, turkeys, and ducks.
- It's been observed in many other bird species besides parrots and macaws, as well as elephants, macaques, giraffes, rhinos and chimpanzees.
- Such species as love birds, parrots and doves are spending more time near the water trough and less on picking for food.
- In the aviary there are no visitors: are they both natives, then, the parrot and the human?
- Hundreds of macaws and parrots gather at the exposed riverbanks to feed on clay, which helps the birds digest their diet of nutritious seeds.
- Speaking of which, I was a little concerned with the parrot being able to speak as well as he did.
- The world's rarest parrots, including most macaws, are at special risk.
- The park is home to thousands of different species of flora and birds, including parrots and hummingbirds.
- Pet parrots and mynah birds, in particular, are famous for their ability to copy words and expressions taught to them by their owners.
verbparrots, parroting, parroted ˈparətˈpɛrət
[with object]Repeat mechanically.
encouraging students to parrot back information- The intention - where the commentator concerned is not simply parroting the line of the last ‘expert’ on the topic he or she happened to listen to - the intention is to persuade.
- Asked about writing, she examines the butter dish with interest, before mouthing some sentences like a student parroting poetry.
- Most local journalists parroted the view that homosexuality was ‘alien’ to Indian culture.
- With great respect, you're parroting Labor's line.
- Instead, we have had the depressing experience of hearing councils parroting some rather stale agendas.
- I've found more and more female presenters hosting entertainment programmes parroting their Hong Kong and Taiwanese counterparts.
- The agent repeated her statement and this time I parroted her words, so that my wife could hear what was happening.
- And it seems that there is a concerted effort lead by Democrats and parroted by the media, to disenfranchise us.
- Apparently - and we're just parroting him here - it's delightful.
- Throughout this period, large newspaper chains experienced little government harassment because they often parroted the views of the economic and ruling elite.
- In the past, health correspondents have been criticised for simply parroting Department of Health press releases and recycling articles from the medical journals.
- It shows children parroting lines they've heard while watching old movies in the van.
- So, while the media was mindlessly parroting that information over and over again, these viewers already understood that it most likely was not true.
- When I was about five or six and my dad realised that I actually understood most of the foul-mouthed insults being launched from the locals as I had a bad habit of parroting them when I felt extra cheeky.
- It is why I am equally antipathetic to fundamentalism of a non-religious kind, where people just keep parroting a view regardless of the evidence or the arguments.
- Today's Conservative Party are meekly copying his method - refusing to pledge tax cuts and parroting Labour's spending bonanza pledge on schools and hospitals.
- The ‘we can increase production’ quote has been parroted repeatedly in the mainstream media with little background or additional information provided.
- While the two prime ministerial styles were different the words parroted by them and their respective ministers have been very similar over the last few years.
- And we must become critical of the real role of the WTO in society, contrary to the government rhetoric parroted by the media.
repeat mindlessly, repeat, repeat mechanically, echo, say again
Origin
Early 16th century: probably from dialect French perrot, diminutive of the male given name Pierre 'Peter'. Compare with parakeet.
The original English term for a parrot was popinjay. This came from French papingay which came, via Spanish, from Arabic babbaga, which may have been formed in imitation of the bird's cry. The ending of the French word was altered to resemble the name of the bird, the jay. The change to a term for a conceited, vain person came in the early 16th century. The origin of the word parrot may lie in the tendency to give pet birds human names. The word, recorded in the early 16th century, could represent French Pierrot, a pet form of Pierre ‘Peter’. People often address a pet bird as ‘Pretty Polly’, and the name Polly has been used to mean ‘a parrot’ since the early 19th century, while Poll is first recorded as a parrot's name in 1600. The word parakeet [M16th] may be a similar formation based on the Spanish given name Pedro, also ‘Peter’. Alternatively it may have come via Italian from a word meaning ‘little wig’, referring to the bird's head plumage. See also moon
Rhymes
carat, carrot, claret, garret, karat
Definition of parrot in US English:
parrot
nounˈpɛrətˈperət
A bird, often vividly colored, with a short down-curved hooked bill, grasping feet, and a raucous voice, found especially in the tropics and feeding on fruits and seeds. Many are popular as cage birds, and some are able to mimic the human voice.
Order Psittaciformes: numerous species, sometimes all placed in the family Psittacidae. The order also contains the cockatoos, lories, lovebirds, macaws, conures, and budgerigars
- This talent to imitate, observable in parrots and some other bird species, is not an ability that can be acquired by coincidence.
- Thick-billed parrots are colorful, noisy, social birds that electrify the region's high pine and oak forests.
- Your parrot could catch its feet into the clumps and could get hurt while struggling to escape.
- It is not the mere articulation which is our distinguishing character, for parrots and other birds possess this power.
- Such species as love birds, parrots and doves are spending more time near the water trough and less on picking for food.
- Bird watchers are drawn from all over the world in search of species such as parrots, parakeets, hyacinth macaws, and wood storks.
- Hundreds of macaws and parrots gather at the exposed riverbanks to feed on clay, which helps the birds digest their diet of nutritious seeds.
- The world's rarest parrots, including most macaws, are at special risk.
- I forget her name, but she was green and had parrot feet (a green parrot is a symbol for marijuana in India, as well).
- Speaking of which, I was a little concerned with the parrot being able to speak as well as he did.
- This bacterium is primarily carried by birds such as parakeets, parrots, pigeons, turkeys, and ducks.
- You can attract birds like eastern rosellas, king parrots, galahs and lorikeets to your garden.
- Whistling bowerbirds and whip-cracking riflebirds complement parrots and honeyeaters.
- In the aviary there are no visitors: are they both natives, then, the parrot and the human?
- The park is home to thousands of different species of flora and birds, including parrots and hummingbirds.
- The young parrot's foot became caught between a pine cone and the wire that secured it.
- They went through the bird house, marveling at toucans, parrots, birds of paradise.
- It's been observed in many other bird species besides parrots and macaws, as well as elephants, macaques, giraffes, rhinos and chimpanzees.
- Song birds in the mating season seem to sing endlessly, and some birds, such as parrots or lyre birds, can even imitate human speech almost to perfection.
- Pet parrots and mynah birds, in particular, are famous for their ability to copy words and expressions taught to them by their owners.
verbˈpɛrətˈperət
[with object]Repeat mechanically.
encouraging students to parrot back information- It shows children parroting lines they've heard while watching old movies in the van.
- So, while the media was mindlessly parroting that information over and over again, these viewers already understood that it most likely was not true.
- And it seems that there is a concerted effort lead by Democrats and parroted by the media, to disenfranchise us.
- It is why I am equally antipathetic to fundamentalism of a non-religious kind, where people just keep parroting a view regardless of the evidence or the arguments.
- Most local journalists parroted the view that homosexuality was ‘alien’ to Indian culture.
- The agent repeated her statement and this time I parroted her words, so that my wife could hear what was happening.
- Throughout this period, large newspaper chains experienced little government harassment because they often parroted the views of the economic and ruling elite.
- Today's Conservative Party are meekly copying his method - refusing to pledge tax cuts and parroting Labour's spending bonanza pledge on schools and hospitals.
- Asked about writing, she examines the butter dish with interest, before mouthing some sentences like a student parroting poetry.
- The intention - where the commentator concerned is not simply parroting the line of the last ‘expert’ on the topic he or she happened to listen to - the intention is to persuade.
- When I was about five or six and my dad realised that I actually understood most of the foul-mouthed insults being launched from the locals as I had a bad habit of parroting them when I felt extra cheeky.
- While the two prime ministerial styles were different the words parroted by them and their respective ministers have been very similar over the last few years.
- The ‘we can increase production’ quote has been parroted repeatedly in the mainstream media with little background or additional information provided.
- In the past, health correspondents have been criticised for simply parroting Department of Health press releases and recycling articles from the medical journals.
- I've found more and more female presenters hosting entertainment programmes parroting their Hong Kong and Taiwanese counterparts.
- Instead, we have had the depressing experience of hearing councils parroting some rather stale agendas.
- And we must become critical of the real role of the WTO in society, contrary to the government rhetoric parroted by the media.
- Apparently - and we're just parroting him here - it's delightful.
- With great respect, you're parroting Labor's line.
repeat mindlessly, repeat, repeat mechanically, echo, say again
Origin
Early 16th century: probably from dialect French perrot, diminutive of the male given name Pierre ‘Peter’. Compare with parakeet.