finch
NounUS[finch]/fɪntʃ/1 syllable
Open English WordNet
Noun (1)finches
- any of numerous small songbirds with short stout bills adapted for crushing seedsType of oscine, oscine birdKinds red siskin, pyrrhuloxia, linnet, chaffinch, grosbeak, redpoll, junco, bullfinch, purple finch, serin +13 moreMember of Fringillidae, family Fringillidae
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Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Finch (fĭnch), noun; pl. Finches (fĭnch′wb-a1′>′ĕz).
Origin: AS. finc; akin to D. vink, OHG. fincho, G. fink; cf. W. pinc a finch; also E. spink.
Zoology A small singing bird of many genera and species, belonging to the family Fringillidæ.
☞ The word is often used in composition, as in chaffinch, goldfinch, grassfinch, pinefinch, etc.
Bramble finch. See Brambling. — Canary finch, the canary bird. — Copper finch. See Chaffinch. — Diamond finch. See under Diamond. — Finch falcon Zoology, one of several very small East Indian falcons of the genus Hierax. — To pull a finch, to swindle an ignorant or unsuspecting person. obsolete “Privily a finch eke could he pull.” Geoffrey Chaucer
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54