magpie

«magpie» in Mova's school dictionary: A black-and-white bird with a long tail and a loud… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 4 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a magpie, magpies)

meaning for a pupil

1) A black-and-white bird with a long tail and a loud chattering call, related to crows. tree →

2) (informal) A person who likes to collect small shiny or odd things. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science, magpies are clever birds of the crow family; in Europe the magpie is black and white with blue-green shine, and the Australian magpie is a different bird known for swooping on people near its nest in spring — wear a hat and walk away calmly. In stories and old rhymes, magpies steal shiny things, though studies show they do not really love shiny objects. Phrases: «One for sorrow, two for joy» (a counting rhyme).

examples

• A magpie hopped across the lawn. tree →
• "One for sorrow, two for joy," we chanted when we saw the magpies. tree →
• In spring, Australian magpies swoop at cyclists. tree →
• Magpies are very clever birds. tree →
• The magpie built a big messy nest in the tree. tree →
• Grandma is a magpie who collects buttons. tree →
• The magpie's tail is long and shiny. tree →
• Magpies eat insects, seeds and even scraps. tree →
• Then the prince started off with the lame magpie. tree →

note

Countable. Myth: magpies do not really steal shiny things more than other things. The magpie rhyme is a superstition, not a true way to tell the future.

In the corpora

• The old Magpie says "the night-air doesn't suit my throat", and a Canary calls its children to bed.
• Australian magpies swoop people in spring to protect their nests.
• Every spring a magpie dive-bombs kids on the path by the park.
• Magpies can remember human faces, and people who throw things at them often get swooped more.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «magpie» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.