Definition of "bird of paradise" []

• Any of various birds of the family Paradisaeidae, native to New Guinea and adjacent islands, usually having brilliant plumage and long tail feathers in the male. (noun)
• Any of several southern African herbs of the genus Strelitzia, especially S. reginae, having orange and blue flowers grouped above a boat-shaped bract. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Two young nobles, splendidly robed, who also bore gold vases, lotos-shaped, in which nestled the bird of paradise called Nok Kurraweèk, the sweetness of whose song is supposed to entrance even beasts of prey."
• "Another handsome creature of olive green with blue wavy stripes and spots (FISTULARIS SERRATUS) has the shape of a gar-fish, and to counterbalance a long tubular snout, a slender filament resembling the bare feather shaft of some bird of paradise extending from the tail."
• "She knew this was true of the quilt Hinano had designed for her, and that, perhaps without realizing it, he had captured the meaning and purpose of her journey and all the blessings it had bestowed upon her in every bird of paradise blossom he had drawn, in every graceful curve and elegant point of his pattern."