snowbird

[ snoh-burd ]

noun
  1. any of various birds that winter in a cold, snowy climate, especially the dark-eyed junco and the snow bunting.

  2. Informal. a person who vacations in or moves to a warmer climate during cold weather: Since 9/11, the ease with which Canadian snowbirds cross the U.S. border has changed.

  1. Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. a person addicted to cocaine or heroine: The cocaine addiction of pre-talkies film star Alma Rubens earned her the unfortunate nickname “Silent Snowbird.”

Origin of snowbird

1
First recorded in 1665–75; snow (in the sense “precipitation; snowflake”) + bird;1910–15 for def. 3, with snow (in the sense “cocaine or heroin”)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use snowbird in a sentence

  • The rich, clustering berries, besides their ornamental character, furnish food for the snowbirds.

    Christmas Entertainments | Alice Maude Kellogg
  • We see the little snowbirds flying around, and they are so happy picking up seeds for food.

    Light On the Child's Path | William Allen Bixler
  • At that instant a flock of snowbirds came flitting through the air.

    Tell Me Another Story | Carolyn Sherwin Bailey
  • Far below us, like suspended leaves swirling in a wind, a dense flock of snowbirds fluttered.

    The Killer | Stewart Edward White
  • Wright's long train of mules came sweeping round before the storm like a flight of brown snowbirds driven by a winter tempest.

    The Oregon Trail | Francis Parkman, Jr.

British Dictionary definitions for snowbird

snowbird

/ (ˈsnəʊˌbɜːd) /


noun
  1. another name for the snow bunting

  2. US slang a person addicted to cocaine, or sometimes heroin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012