bird of passage

English

WOTD – 8 October 2021

Etymology

Probably a calque of Middle French oiseau de passage: oiseau (“bird”), passage (“part of a journey or route, passage”).^[1]

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌbɜːd əv ˈpæsɪd͡ʒ/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˌbɝd əv ˈpæsɪd͡ʒ/
Audio (US): (file)
Hyphenation: bird of pass‧age

Noun

bird of passage (plural birds of passage)

(ornithology) A migratory bird, especially a passage migrant (“a bird that stops somewhere for a short time during a seasonal migration”).
Synonym: migrant
- 1789, [Erasmus Darwin], The Botanic Garden; a Poem, in Two Parts. […], London: J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1791, →OCLC, part II (The Loves of the Plants; 3rd edition), footnote, page 33:
  There is a wonderful conformity between the vegetation of ſome plants, and the arrival of certain birds of paſſage. [Carl] Linnaeus obſerves that the wood anemone blows in Sweden on the arrival of the ſwallow; and the marſh mary-gold, Caltha, when the cuckoo ſings.
- 1863, J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu, “In Which Two Young People Understand One Another Better, Perhaps, than Ever They Did Before, without Saying So”, in The House by the Church-yard. […], volume I, London: Tinsley, Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 237:
  And now the ladies, with their gay plumage, have flown away like foreign birds of passage, and the jolly old priests of Bacchus, in the parlour, make their libations of claret; […]
(figuratively) Someone passing through a place and only staying for a short time; an itinerant.
Synonyms: see Thesaurus:traveller
- 1771, [Tobias Smollett], “To Sir Watkin Phillips, Bart. of Jesus College, Oxon.”, in The Expedition of Humphry Clinker […], volume I, London: […] W. Johnston, […]; and B. Collins, […], →OCLC, page 150:
  The muſick and entertainments of Bath are over for this ſeason; and all our gay birds of paſſage have taken their flight to Briſtol-vvell, Tunbridge, Brighthelmſtone, Scarborough, Harrovvgate, &c.
- 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 197:
  —one of those adventurers who deem their fortune never lies at home, and encounter great risks for the sake, not so much of their gains, as for themselves,—human birds of passage, who make life one perpetual journey in search of wealth, but who never die rich.

Translations

migratory bird — see also migratory bird

French: oiseau de passage (fr) m
Ingrian: kesälintu
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: teyrê koçer m
Spanish: ave pasajera f

someone passing through a place and only staying for a short time — see itinerant

References

^ “bird of passage, n.” under “passage, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2021; “bird of passage, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.