Etymology

Probably a calque of Middle FrenchCategory:English terms calqued from Middle French#BIRDOFPASSAGECategory:English terms derived from Middle French#BIRDOFPASSAGE oiseau de passage: oiseau (“bird”), passage (“part of a journey or route, passage”).^[1]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌbɜːd əv ˈpæsɪd͡ʒ/Category:English terms with IPA pronunciation#BIRDOFPASSAGE
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌbɝd əv ˈpæsɪd͡ʒ/Category:English terms with IPA pronunciation#BIRDOFPASSAGE

• Audio (US):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#BIRDOFPASSAGE
• Hyphenation: bird of pass‧age

Noun

bird of passage (plural birds of passage)Category:English lemmas#BIRDOFPASSAGECategory:English nouns#BIRDOFPASSAGECategory:English countable nouns#BIRDOFPASSAGECategory:English multiword terms#BIRDOFPASSAGECategory:English entries with incorrect language header#BIRDOFPASSAGECategory:Pages with entries#BIRD%20OF%20PASSAGECategory:Pages with 1 entry#BIRD%20OF%20PASSAGE

1. (ornithologyCategory:en:Ornithology#BIRDOFPASSAGE) 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], “Canto I”, in 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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#BIRDOFPASSAGE

   • 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; […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#BIRDOFPASSAGE

2. (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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#BIRDOFPASSAGE

   • 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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#BIRDOFPASSAGE

References

Further reading

• bird migration on Wikipedia.Wikipedia