Definition of Passerine

1. Noun. Perching birds mostly small and living near the ground with feet having 4 toes arranged to allow for gripping the perch; most are songbirds; hatchlings are helpless.


2. Adjective. Relating to or characteristic of the passeriform birds.
Antonyms: Nonpasserine

Definition of Passerine

1. a. Of or pertaining to the Passeres.

2. n. One of the Passeres.

Definition of Passerine

1. Noun. Any bird of the order Passeriformes, which comprises more than half of all bird species. ¹

2. Adjective. Of, or relating to a passerine or perching bird. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Passerine

1. [n -S]

Medical Definition of Passerine

1. Of or pertaining to the Passeres. "The columbine, gallinaceous, and passerine tribes people the fruit trees." (Sydney Smith) Origin: L. Passerinus, fr. Passer a sparrow. One of the Passeres. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Literary usage of Passerine

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Auk: Quarterly Journal of Ornithology by American Ornithologists' Union, Nuttall Ornithological Club (1901)
"Dwight's ' Sequence of Plumages and Moults of the passerine Birds of New York'.1—The present paper is in all respects the most important contribution to the ..."

2. The Ibis by British Ornithologists' Union (1901)
"[The Sequence of Plumages and Moult« of the passerine Birds of \. ... as evidenced by several thousand* of examples of passerine species from New York ..."

3. A History of British Birds by Thomas Bewick, Ralph Beilby, Henry Cotes (1816)
"OF THE passerine ORDER. THIS numerous class constitutes the fifth order in Mr ... The characters of the passerine order, which are as various as their ..."

4. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales by Linnean Society of New South Wales (1877)
"Mr. EP RAMSAY read the following papers :— Characters of a new genus and species of passerine bird, from the Fiji Islands, proposed to be called VITIA. ..."

5. The Collected Scientific Papers of the Late Alfred Henry Garrod by Alfred Henry Garrod, William Alexander Forbes (1881)
"NOTES ON THE ANATOMY OF passerine BIRDS. PART IV.* IN my " Notes on the Anatomy of passerine Birds," Part II., whilst Page 143. discussing the systematic ..."

6. The Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales by Linnean Society of New South Wales (1877)
"Mr. EP RAMSAY read the following papers :— Characters of a new genus and species of passerine bird, from the Fiji Islands, proposed to be called VITIA. ..."

7. A Familiar History of Birds: Their Nature, Habits, and Instincts by Edward Stanley (1835)
"passerine. THERE are seven genera of this tribe, of which four are foreign: it is the most numerous, perhaps, of all the divisions, including, as it does, ..."

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