bird calln.
/ˈbəːd kɔːl/, U.S. /ˈbərd ˌkɔl/, /ˈbərd ˌkɑl/ 1. A whistle or other instrument used by hunters or bird-catchers to imitate the sound of a bird. In early use also figurative: a person who lures or entices others. Cf. call n. 2b.
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the world > food and drink > hunting > fowling > fowling equipment > [noun] > calls
quail-pipea1425
call1607
quail call1614
bird call1621
lark call1791
caller1845
yelper1884
turkey-yelper1895
1621 G. Markham Hungers Preuention xi. 129 If..by no meanes you can frame your Lipps or Tongue to these sounds,..buy a Byrd-call, of which there are diuers.
1639 J. Fletcher & P. Massinger Elder Brother iv. ii. sig. G*1bv 'Tis Pippeau That is your bird-call.
1774 D. Barrington in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 63 272 Easily imposed upon by that most imperfect of all instruments, a bird-call.
1843 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 6 5/1 The bird-catcher..is concealed in the underwood with his bird-call in his mouth.
1919 E. S. Brooks tr. E. Le Roy Jacquou the Rebel vi. 266 During the daytime I would kill several partridges, decoying them with a bird call.
2002 W. Fiennes Snow Geese (2003) i. 18 The hunters, too, found everything they needed in Eagle Lake: Johnny's Sports Shop for camouflage gear, hunting knives, electronic bird calls, [etc.].
2. A call or cry made by a bird; such calls collectively.
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the world > animals > birds > sound or bird defined by > [noun] > cry or call
gredingc1275
crowingc1386
call1584
note1594
ramage?1614
honking1844
bird call1880
1880 ‘M. Harland’ Loiterings in Pleasant Paths xxix. 418 Visions..of ferny glades..; of bird-call; the grasshopper's rattle and the whirr of the quail.
1972 ‘J. Herriot’ All Creatures Great & Small xl. 245 It was cool in the wood and silent except when a bird call echoed through the trees.
2020 Express (Nexis) 4 Apr. 40 Walk past hedgerows and listen out for the different bird calls.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2021).
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n.1621