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canary
[ kuh-nair-ee ]
noun
- any of several Old World finches of the genus Serinus, especially S. canaria common canary, native to the Canary Islands and often kept as a pet, in the wild being greenish with brown streaks above and yellow below and in domesticated varieties usually bright yellow or pale yellow.
- Also called canary yellow. a light, clear yellow color:
They sell a shimmer eyeshadow in canary that would look nice with your coloring.
- Slang. informer ( def 1 ).
- Slang. a female singer, especially with a dance band.
- a sweet white wine of the Canary Islands, resembling sherry.
- Also called ca·nar·y dia·mond [k, uh, -, nair, -ee , dahy, -m, uh, nd, dahy, -, uh, -]. a yellow diamond.
adjective
- having a light, clear yellow color:
That canary sweater would pair well with your golden skirt.
canary
/ kəˈnɛərɪ /
noun
- a small finch, Serinus canaria, of the Canary Islands and Azores: a popular cagebird noted for its singing. Wild canaries are streaked yellow and brown, but most domestic breeds are pure yellow
- See canary yellow
- history a convict
- archaic.a sweet wine from the Canary Islands similar to Madeira
Word History and Origins
Word History and Origins
Origin of canary1
Idioms and Phrases
- canary in the coal mine, someone or something that serves as an early warning sign of danger or trouble to come:
These fish are the canaries in the coal mine, so when they die off in unusually high numbers, that's an indicator of the river's health.
- the cat that ate / swallowed / got the canary. cat ( def 28 ).
More idioms and phrases containing canary
see look like the cat that ate the canary .Example Sentences
Joly said Canada was the "canary in the coal mine", with the Europeans next, and the UK after that.
“The first canary in the coal mine was that the students stopped moving to New York,” he recalls.
The warnings from history were clear: the survivors more than anyone understood the risks of intolerance, and antisemitism was the canary in the coal mine.
We are also weathered and suffer great health disparities because of our experiences in a racist society and how we are the miner’s canary.
Vahdani said Rossilli declined help from all of them, saying she wanted to stay with her pets — two parrots, a canary, a turtle and a dog.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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