shrike


Also found in: Thesaurus, Acronyms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
Related to shrike: northern shrike

shrike

 (shrīk)
n.
Any of various carnivorous songbirds of the family Laniidae, having a screeching call and a strong hooked bill and often impaling its prey on sharp-pointed thorns or barbs of wire fencing.

[Probably from Middle English *shrik, from Old English scrīc, thrush.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

shrike

(ʃraɪk)
n
1. (Animals) Also called: butcherbird any songbird of the chiefly Old World family Laniidae, having a heavy hooked bill and feeding on smaller animals which they sometimes impale on thorns, barbed wire, etc. See also bush shrike1
2. (Animals) any of various similar but unrelated birds, such as the cuckoo shrikes
3. (Animals) shrike thrush shrike tit another name for thickhead2
[Old English scrīc thrush; related to Middle Dutch schrīk corncrake; see screech1, shriek]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

shrike

(ʃraɪk)

n.
any of various songbirds of the family Laniidae, mainly of the Old World, having a sharply hooked bill and feeding on large insects or small vertebrates: some species impale their prey on thorns or barbed wire.
[1535–45; perhaps continuing Old English scrīc thrush]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.shrike - any of numerous Old World birds having a strong hooked bill that feed on smaller animalsshrike - any of numerous Old World birds having a strong hooked bill that feed on smaller animals
oscine, oscine bird - passerine bird having specialized vocal apparatus
butcherbird - shrikes that impale their prey on thorns
Lanius lucovicianus, loggerhead shrike - a common shrike of southeastern United States having black bands around the eyes
Lanius ludovicianus migrans, migrant shrike - a shrike of central North America; winters in Texas and the southern Mississippi valley
bush shrike - an African shrike
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations

shrike

[ʃraɪk] Nalcaudón m
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

shrike

nWürger m
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

shrike

[ʃraɪk] naverla maggiore
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
References in classic literature ?
In our own country the larger titmouse (Parus major) may be seen climbing branches, almost like a creeper; it often, like a shrike, kills small birds by blows on the head; and I have many times seen and heard it hammering the seeds of the yew on a branch, and thus breaking them like a nuthatch.
In its structure it closely approaches the true shrikes, but in its habits may be compared to many birds.
Before getting to our shrike, let's take a look at the owl and the hawk.
Khan noted three specimens of Daurian Shrike that is also called Isabelline Shrike, which is a resident of Central Asia and parts of Europe.
Usually only one Isabelline shrike is spotted in the UK every year.
Laia and Elias are being pursued by Helene, the Blood Shrike, and the Masks of the Martial Empire, under orders by Emperor Marcus to kill them.
It houses close to twothirds of India's bird diversity." He spotted several species here like Lord Derby's Parakeet and Gould's Shortwing in eastern most parts of Arunachal; Burmese Shrike in Nagaland and Chinese Francolin in Manipur.
Grey-backed shrike (Lanius tephronotus) is a middle-sized bird frequently seen in East Asia (Mackinnon & Phillipps, 2000).
Crested caracara (Carneara cheriway) kleptoparasitism on loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus)
Before processing the field samples, we tested the DNA extraction and amplification procedures on four frozen shrike carcasses (two loggerhead and two northern shrikes) from our research collections, for which we could verify sex anatomically.
An ornithologist's dream - the red-backed shrike lanius collurio making an appearance after an absence of 30 years.
Adrift in loneliness and anger, she becomes a Shrike, one of three girls who bully and terrorize vulnerable classmates.