any of various wading birds of the family Threskiornithidae, such as Threskiornis aethiopica (sacred ibis), that occur in warm regions and have a long thin down-curved bill: order Ciconiiformes (herons, storks, etc)
Compare wood ibis
Word origin
C14: via Latin from Greek, from Egyptian hby
ibis in American English
(ˈaɪbɪs)
nounWord forms: pluralˈibises or ˈibis
any of several large wading birds (family Threskiornithidae) with long legs and a long, slender, curved bill, found chiefly in tropical regions, as the sacred ibis of the Nile (Threskiornis aethiopica)