Canary Meaning
/kəˈnɛəɹi/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA small, usually yellow, finch (genus Serinus), a songbird native to the Canary Islands.
nounAny of various small birds of different countries, most of which are largely yellow in colour.
Sentence Examples
A canary is a small bird, and people sometimes keep it as a pet.
I had scarcely opened the cage when the canary flew out.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The bright yellow ____ sang beautifully inside its cage in the kitchen.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The yellow ____ sang a beautiful song in its cage this sunny morning.
Word Origin & History
From French canarie, from Spanish canario, from the Latin Canariae insulae (“Canary Islands”) (Spanish Islas Canarias); from the largest island Insula Canaria (“Dog Island" or "Canine Island”), named for its dogs, from canārius (“canine”), from canis (“dog”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The tendency in these types of situations (as far as I can see) is that because I don't think the act itself is illegal, the police will go through your vehicle systematically loking^([sic]) for anything wrong with it, to slap a canary on it (that's slang for an unroadworthy sticker) or present you with some other fine."
— 1993 September 12, Jacco Zwetsloot, “Warning About Speed Traps”, in alt.folklore.urban (Usenet):
"Yes, if the exhaust is to noisey^([sic]) they can slap a yellow canary on it, but the[n] who cares you got rid of it."
— 1999 January 16, Garry Lawson, “Noisy Bikes (Update)”, in aus.motorcycles (Usenet):
"You don't have to carry a spare wheel for a car to be roadworthy, and if you *do* carry one, it doesn't have to be in a roadworthy condition *unless* you fit it [to] the car and drive on it. / If it's not and you get pinched, expect a canary..."
— 2003 February 14, Noddy, “Spare tyres”, in aus.cars (Usenet):
"Ile to my honeſt knight ſir Iohn Falſtaffe, / And drinke Canary with him."
— c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, […] [T]he Merrie Wiues of Windsor. […] (First Quarto), London: […] T[homas] C[reede] for Arthur Ihonson, […], published 1602, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
"And though the annals of the period do not show us that there was less ale drawn, or less canary called for; men got dry with the heat of polemical discussion, and drunk with a text, not the fag end of a ballad, in their mouths; and people made a sort of morality of straight hair, long faces, and sad-coloured garments."
— 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 190:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The bright yellow ____ sang beautifully inside its cage in the kitchen.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The yellow ____ sang a beautiful song in its cage this sunny morning.