doctor bird

English

Etymology

Compound of doctor +‎ bird. The bird, endemic to Jamaica, is so named because its tail resembles a stethoscope.

Pronunciation

Noun

doctor bird (plural doctor birds)

  1. Trochilus polytmus; a red-billed streamertail; scissor-tail hummingbird; scissors tail hummingbird (hummingbird)
    • 2021, Leone Ross, This One Sky Day, Faber & Faber Limited, page 125:
      He listened to the zip of doctor birds at the window and the peach trees in the wind.

Translations

See also