parrot

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  The magician's wife whistles to the parrot
• WordNet 3.6
  • v parrot repeat mindlessly "The students parroted the teacher's words"
  • n parrot usually brightly colored zygodactyl tropical birds with short hooked beaks and the ability to mimic sounds
  • n parrot a copycat who does not understand the words or acts being imitated
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Additional illustrations & photos:

THE PARROT'S CAGE

A PERFORMING PARROT

• Interesting fact: There are 315 species of parrot in the world
• • Parrot (Zoöl) Any species of Psittacus Chrysotis Pionus, and other genera of the family Psittacidæ, as distinguished from the parrakeets, macaws, and lories. They have a short rounded or even tail, and often a naked space on the cheeks. The gray parrot, or jako (Psittacus erithacus) of Africa (see Jako), and the species of Amazon, or green, parrots (Chrysotis) of America, are examples. Many species, as cage birds, readily learn to imitate sounds, and to repeat words and phrases.
  • Parrot (Zoöl) In a general sense, any bird of the order Psittaci.
  • v. i Parrot To chatter like a parrot.
  • v. t Parrot To repeat by rote, without understanding, as a parrot.
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• Interesting fact: Parrots cannot eat chocolate because it is poisonous to their body
• • n parrot Any bird of the family Psittacidæ or order Psittaci; a zygodactyl scansorial bird with a cered and hooked bill. Parrot is the general name of all such birds, various kinds of them being called cockatoos, macaws, parrakeets, lories, and by many other more specific names. When used in a stricter sense, it usually refers to Old World birds of moderate or rather large size, of stout build, with strong beak, fleshy tongue, and short square tail, as in the restricted genus Psittacus, of which the African P. erythacus, of a gray color with a bright-red tail, is a characteristic example and one of the commonest of cage-birds. The natural cries of parrots are, as a rule, extremely loud and harsh; but many of the fleshy-tongued species can be taught to articulate words and even sentences in a perfectly intelligible manner. Most parrots are expert climbers, and in scrambling about use the bill as well as the feet, the upper mandible being peculiarly movable. The tongue in some species is also used as an organ of touch, almost of prehension, objects being often held and handled between the tip of the tongue and the hook of the beak. These birds are mostly vegetarian, feeding upon seeds and especially soft fruits, but some are carnivorous. Their temper is uncertain, though several kinds exhibit the most affectionate and gentle disposition, at least toward one another. In size and shape parrots differ greatly, more than is usual among the representatives of any one family of birds: some of the smallest species are no larger than sparrows, as those of the genus Nasiterna, while the great macaws attain a length of about three feet. Their coloration is equally diversified: some are black or gray; some are snowy-white; green is the most characteristic color; yellow, red, and blue, often of the most brilliant tone, are very common; and many parrots are variegated with all these colors. The sexes are usually colored alike. Gaudiness of coloration reaches its extreme in the macaws, while the most beautiful and dainty tinting is common among the lories, and plain or somber shades are exceptional throughout the order. Of parrots of all kinds there are about 350 species, classed in from 25 to 100 genera according to the views of different ornithologists. They abound in all tropical countries, but seldom extend into temperate countries, except Australia and New Zealand. In round numbers, the geographical distribution of parrots is as follows: America is richest in species, having 150, only one of which occurs in the United States, though two or three others come nearly or quite to the Mexican border; the Moluccas and Papuan islands have 80 species, Australia 60, and Polynesia 30; 25 are African; and 20 are peculiar to Asia. See also cuts tinder cockatoo, Conurus, corella, Euphema, macaw, Melopsittacus, and parrakeet.
  • n parrot Hence A mere repeater of the words or actions of another
  • parrot To say or repeat by rote or not understandingly, like a parrot; repeat mechanically; also, to imitate like a parrot.
  • parrot To chatter as a parrot.
  • parrot To repeat, parrot-like, what one has heard or been taught.
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• Interesting fact: At Andrew Jackson's funeral in 1845, his pet parrot had to be removed because it was swearing.
• • n Parrot par′rut one of a family of tropical and subtropical birds, with brilliant plumage and a hooked bill, remarkable for their faculty of imitating the human voice: a repeater of the words of others
  • v.t., v.i Parrot to repeat by rote
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• Mark Twain

  

  “She was not quite what you would call refined. She was not quite what you would call unrefined. She was the kind of person that keeps a parrot.”
• Billy Graham

  

  “A real Christian is a person who can give his pet parrot to the town gossip.”
• Will Rogers

  

  “So live that you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip.”
• Joseph Conrad

  

  “To a teacher of languages there comes a time when the world is but a place of many words and man appears a mere talking animal not much more wonderful than a parrot.”
• Edna St. Vincent Millay

  

  “Parrots, tortoises and redwoods live a longer life than men do; Men a longer life than dogs do; Dogs a longer life than love does.”
• Winston Churchill

  

  “When the eagles are silent the parrots begin to jabber.”

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