canary
pronunciation
How to pronounce canary in British English:
UK [kəˈneəri]
How to pronounce canary in American English:
US [kəˈneri]
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- Noun:
- someone acting as an informer or decoy for the police
- a female singer
- a moderate yellow with a greenish tinge
- any of several small Old World finches
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- Adjective:
- having the color of a canary; a light to moderate yellow
Word Origin
- canary
- canary: [16] Small green finches (Serinus canarius) native to the Canary Islands were introduced as cage birds in England in the 16th century (the domestic breed is now for the most part yellow). They were called, naturally enough, canary birds, and by the mid 17th century this had become simply canary. The Canaries, a group of Spanish islands in the Atlantic off the northwest coast of Africa, got their name because one of them was famous in Roman times for a large breed of dog found there (Latin canārius ‘of dogs’ was a derivative of canís, source of English canine, chenille, and kennel and related to English hound).=> canine, chenille, hound, kennel
- canary (n.)
- type of small songbird, 1650s (short for Canary-bird, 1570s), from French canarie, from Spanish canario "canary bird," literally "of the Canary Islands," from Latin Insula Canaria "Canary Island," largest of the Fortunate Isles, literally "island of dogs" (canis, genitive canarius; see canine (n.)), so called because large dogs lived there. The name was extended to the whole island group (Canariæ Insulæ) by the time of Arnobius (c.300). As a type of wine (from the Canary Islands) from 1580s.
Example
- 1. Beyond canary wharf are the rather spectacular royal docks .
- 2. Greece is the canary in the mine .
- 3. An aerial view shows canary wharf in london march 27 , 2012 .
- 4. As the canary chokes , the answer looks like the latter .
- 5. Later that day a bomb exploded at canary wharf in london .