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Definition of Shrike
1. Noun. Any of numerous Old World birds having a strong hooked bill that feed on smaller animals.
Group relationships: Family Laniidae, Laniidae
Specialized synonyms: Butcherbird, Lanius Lucovicianus, Loggerhead Shrike, Lanius Ludovicianus Migrans, Migrant Shrike, Bush Shrike
Definition of Shrike
1. n. Any one of numerous species of oscinine birds of the family Laniidæ, having a strong hooked bill, toothed at the tip. Most shrikes are insectivorous, but the common European gray shrike (Lanius excubitor), the great northern shrike (L. borealis), and several others, kill mice, small birds, etc., and often impale them on thorns, and are, on that account called also butcher birds. See under Butcher.
Definition of Shrike
1. Noun. Any of various passerine birds of the family ''Laniidae'' which are known for their habit of catching other birds and small animals and impaling the uneaten portions of their bodies on thorns. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Shrike
1. a predatory bird [n -S]
Medical Definition of Shrike
1.
Lexicographical Neighbors of Shrike
Literary usage of Shrike
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 (1894)
"On the cth of March, 1892, at Concord, Mass., I saw a Northern shrike (Lanius
... As I was watching a shrike it flew from the topmost spray of a small maple ..."
2. Geology of Wisconsin: Survey of 1873-1879 by Wisconsin Chief Geologist (1883)
"He followed the shrike and observed him fix his bird in the crotch of a limb and
proceed ... Very soon the shrike tore off the head of its prey and ate it, ..."
3. The American Naturalist by American Society of Naturalists, Essex Institute (1872)
"—AWB THE GREAT NORTHERN shrike AND THE ENGLISH SPARROWS. — I have lately received
with much interest from a pupil in Rutgers College Grammar School, ..."
4. A History of British Birds by Thomas Bewick, Ralph Beilby, Henry Cotes (1816)
"OF THE shrike. THE last class to be mentioned of birds of the rapacious kind, is
that of the shrike, which, as M. Buffon observes, though they are small, ..."
5. The Birds of Jamaica: Being a History of the Bird, Its Structure, and Habits by Philip Henry Gosse, Alfred Edmund Brehm, Richard Hill (1874)
"The May-tly is torn by the Swallow, the Sparrow is spear'd by the shrike; And
the whole little wood ... This bird is the Great Gray shrike, or Butcher-bird, ..."
6. The Auk: Quarterly Journal of Ornithology by American Ornithologists' Union, Nuttall Ornithological Club (1894)
"On the cth of March, 1892, at Concord, Mass., I saw a Northern shrike (Lanius
... As I was watching a shrike it flew from the topmost spray of a small maple ..."
7. Geology of Wisconsin: Survey of 1873-1879 by Wisconsin Chief Geologist (1883)
"He followed the shrike and observed him fix his bird in the crotch of a limb and
proceed ... Very soon the shrike tore off the head of its prey and ate it, ..."
8. The American Naturalist by American Society of Naturalists, Essex Institute (1872)
"—AWB THE GREAT NORTHERN shrike AND THE ENGLISH SPARROWS. — I have lately received
with much interest from a pupil in Rutgers College Grammar School, ..."
9. A History of British Birds by Thomas Bewick, Ralph Beilby, Henry Cotes (1816)
"OF THE shrike. THE last class to be mentioned of birds of the rapacious kind, is
that of the shrike, which, as M. Buffon observes, though they are small, ..."
10. The Birds of Jamaica: Being a History of the Bird, Its Structure, and Habits by Philip Henry Gosse, Alfred Edmund Brehm, Richard Hill (1874)
"The May-tly is torn by the Swallow, the Sparrow is spear'd by the shrike; And
the whole little wood ... This bird is the Great Gray shrike, or Butcher-bird, ..."
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