Join free

Canary

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

canary¹

  • /kəˈnɛəɹi/ UK
  • /kəˈnɛːɹɪj/ British, Southern, Standard
  • /kəˈnɛəɹi/
  • /kəˈneɹi/
  • /kəˈnɛɹi/
  • /kəˈneːɹi/ Australia
  • /kəˈneəɹi/
  • /kəˈniəɹi/
  • /kəˈneɾe/ Scotland
  • /-ɾɪ/ Scotland
  • /-ɾi/ Scotland
  • /kəˈnɜːɹɪ/

Rhymes with -ɛəɹi

Where it comes from

From French canarie, from Spanish canario, from the Latin Canariae insulae (“Canary Islands”) (Spanish Islas Canarias); from the largest island Insula Canaria (“Dog Island" or "Canine Island”), named for its dogs, from canārius (“canine”), from canis (“dog”).

noun canaries

  1. countable, uncountable A small, usually yellow, finch (genus Serinus), a songbird native to the Canary Islands.
  2. countable, uncountable Any of various small birds of different countries, most of which are largely yellow in colour.
  3. countable, informal, uncountable A female singer, soprano, a coloratura singer.
  4. countable, slang, uncountable An informer or snitch; a squealer.
  5. countable, uncountable A light, slightly greenish, yellow colour.
  6. countable, slang, uncountable A (usually yellow) capsule of the short-acting barbiturate pentobarbital/pentobarbitone (nembutal).
  7. Australia, countable, informal, uncountable A yellow sticker applied by the police to a vehicle to indicate it is unroadworthy. The tendency in these types of situations (as far as I can see) is that because I don't think the act itself is illegal, the police will go through your vehicle systematically loking^([sic]) for anything wrong with it, to slap a canary on it (that's slang for an unroadworthy sticker) or present you
  8. countable, uncountable Any test subject, especially an inadvertent or unwilling one. (From the mining practice of using canaries to detect dangerous gases.)
  9. countable, uncountable A value placed in memory such that it will be the first data corrupted by a buffer overflow, allowing the program to identify and recover from it.
  10. countable, uncountable A change that is tested by being rolled out first to a subset of machines or users before rolling out to all.
  11. countable, uncountable A light, sweet, white wine from the Canary Islands. Ile to my honeſt knight ſir Iohn Falſtaffe, / And drinke Canary with him.
  12. countable, uncountable A lively dance, possibly of Spanish origin (also called canaries). In an other corner, Mistris Minx, a marchants wife, that will eate no cherries, forsooth, but when they are at twentie shillings a pound, that lookes as simperingly as if she were besmeard, and iets it as gingerly as if she were dancing the canaries, […]
  13. UK, countable, obsolete, slang, uncountable A sovereign (coin).
  14. countable, uncountable A previously-issued ticket, retained by a ticket-seller, conductor or driver and resold to a subsequent passenger as a means of defrauding the transport company. She had previously been sacked ... for "selling canaries" - a practice in which drivers resell used tickets to passengers and keep the fare for themselves.
  15. UK, countable, obsolete, slang, uncountable A prisoner or convict.

adjective more canary · most canary

  1. Of a light yellow colour.

verb canaries · canarying · canaried

  1. intransitive To dance nimbly (as in the canary dance). but to jig off a tune at / the tongue's end, canary to it with your feet,
  2. slang To inform or snitch, to betray secrets, especially about illegal activities.
  3. To test a software change by rolling out to a small set of machines or users before making it available to all.

Canary²

  • /kəˈnɛəɹi/ UK
  • /kəˈnɛəɹi/ US

Where it comes from

From 1907, coined by the football club's then-chairman who was a keen breeder of canaries.

noun Canaries

  1. Someone connected with Norwich City Football Club, as a fan, player, coach etc.

Canary³

  • /kəˈnɛəɹi/ UK
  • /kəˈnɛəɹi/ US

Where it comes from

Based on the geography of the Canary Islands, between Bermudan and European.

adjective

  1. not comparable That can be exercised on quarterly dates, a set time period (usually one year) after the issue date, and before the expiry date. Canary callable bonds are a type of step-up bond that is a hybrid structure, having elements of both Bermudan and European calls.

Talk about this word