canary

See also: Canary

English

Etymology

From French canarie, from Spanish canario, from the Latin Canariae insulae (“Canary Islands”) (Spanish Islas Canarias); from the largest island Insula Canaria (“Dog Island" or "Canine Island”), named for its dogs, from canārius (“canine”), from canis (“dog”).

Pronunciation

  • Audio (US):(file)
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /kəˈnɛəɹi/
  • (US) IPA(key): /kəˈnɛəɹi/
  • Audio (General Australian):(file)

Noun

canary (countable and uncountable, plural canaries)

  1. A small, usually yellow, finch (genus Serinus), a songbird native to the Canary Islands.
  2. Any of various small birds of different countries, most of which are largely yellow in colour.
  3. (informal) A female singer, soprano, a coloratura singer.
  4. (slang) An informer or snitch; a squealer.
  5. A light, slightly greenish, yellow colour.
    canary:  
  6. (slang) A (usually yellow) capsule of the short-acting barbiturate pentobarbital/pentobarbitone (Nembutal).
  7. (Australia, informal) A yellow sticker applied by the police to a vehicle to indicate it is unroadworthy.
    • 1993 September 12, Jacco Zwetsloot, “Warning About Speed Traps”, in alt.folklore.urban‎[1] (Usenet):
      The tendency in these types of situations (as far as I can see) is that because I don't think the act itself is illegal, the police will go through your vehicle systematically loking[sic] for anything wrong with it, to slap a canary on it (that's slang for an unroadworthy sticker) or present you with some other fine.
    • 1999 January 16, Garry Lawson, “Noisy Bikes (Update)”, in aus.motorcycles‎[2] (Usenet):
      Yes, if the exhaust is to noisey[sic] they can slap a yellow canary on it, but the[n] who cares you got rid of it.
    • 2003 February 14, Noddy, “Spare tyres”, in aus.cars‎[3] (Usenet):
      You don't have to carry a spare wheel for a car to be roadworthy, and if you *do* carry one, it doesn't have to be in a roadworthy condition *unless* you fit it [to] the car and drive on it. / If it's not and you get pinched, expect a canary...
  8. Any test subject, especially an inadvertent or unwilling one. (From the mining practice of using canaries to detect dangerous gases.)
  9. (computing) A value placed in memory such that it will be the first data corrupted by a buffer overflow, allowing the program to identify and recover from it.
  10. (computing) A change that is tested by being rolled out first to a subset of machines or users before rolling out to all.
  11. (countable, uncountable) A light, sweet, white wine from the Canary Islands.
  12. A lively dance, possibly of Spanish origin (also called canaries).
  13. (UK, slang, obsolete) A sovereign (coin).
  14. (public transport) A previously-issued ticket, retained by a ticket-seller, conductor or driver and resold to a subsequent passenger as a means of defrauding the transport company.

Synonyms

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Translations

Adjective

canary (comparative more canary, superlative most canary)

  1. Of a light yellow colour.

Translations

Verb

canary (third-person singular simple present canaries, present participle canarying, simple past and past participle canaried)

  1. (intransitive) To dance nimbly (as in the canary dance).
    • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], line 11:
      but to jig off a tune at / the tongue's end, canary to it with your feet,
  2. (slang) To inform or snitch, to betray secrets, especially about illegal activities.
  3. (software engineering) To test a software change by rolling out to a small set of machines or users before making it available to all.

Synonyms

Translations

See also

References

  • (sovereign): John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary
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