Definition of "blackbird" [black•bird]

• Any of various New World birds of the family Icteridae, such as the grackle or red-winged blackbird, the male of which has black or predominantly black plumage. (noun)
• An Old World songbird (Turdus merula), the male of which is black with a yellow bill. Also called merle1. (noun)
• Australian A South Sea Islander kidnapped and sold into slavery in Australia; a Kanaka. (noun)
• Australian To kidnap (a South Sea Islander) and sell into slavery. (verb-transitive)

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.

• "The Totalitarian Temptation from Locke to Lucianne. the blackbird is involved Says:"
• "The blackbird was the first to take the alarm from the jay, and away he flew, crying, "Kink, kink, kink," as he started from his nest in a great ivy tod on an old pollard-tree."
• "It was the edge of a piece of woods, and a blackbird was again heard saluting them."