bird'

a. 1. Seen from above, as if by a flying bird; embraced at a glance; hence, general; not minute, or entering into details; as, a bird's-eye view. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Marked with spots resembling bird's eyes; as, bird's-eye diaper; bird's-eye maple. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A plant with a small bright flower, as the Adonis or pheasant's eye, the mealy primrose (Primula farinosa), and species of Veronica, Geranium, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

See under Maple. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A papilionaceous plant, the Ornithopus, having a curved, cylindrical pod tipped with a short, clawlike point. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bird's-foot trefoil. (Bot.) (a) A genus of plants (Lotus) with clawlike pods. Lotus corniculatas, with yellow flowers, is very common in Great Britain. (b) the related plant, Trigonella ornithopodioides, is also European. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Arch.) An interior angle or notch cut across a piece of timber, for the reception of the edge of another, as that in a rafter to be laid on a plate; -- commonly called crow's-foot in the United States. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ or } n. 1. The nest in which a bird lays eggs and hatches her young. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Cookery) The nest of a small swallow (Collocalia nidifica and several allied species), of China and the neighboring countries, which is mixed with soups. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The nests are found in caverns and fissures of cliffs on rocky coasts, and are composed in part of algæ. They are of the size of a goose egg, and in substance resemble isinglass. See Illust. under Edible. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Bot.) An orchideous plant with matted roots, of the genus Neottia (Neottia nidus-avis). [ 1913 Webster ]

Bird's-nest pudding, a pudding containing apples whose cores have been replaced by sugar. --
Yellow bird's nest, a plant, the Monotropa hypopitys. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Hunting for, or taking, birds' nests or their contents. [ 1913 Webster ]