Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A parakeet (Melopsittacus undulatus) native to Australia and having green, yellow, or blue plumage. It is a popular cage bird bred in a variety of colors not found in wild populations.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An Australian name of the grass-parrakeet, Melopsittacus undulatus.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun small Australian parakeet (Melopsittacus undulatus) usually light green with black and yellow markings in the wild but bred in many colors.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A small species of parakeet native to Australia and often kept as pets, Melopsittacus undulatus.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun small Australian parakeet usually light green with black and yellow markings in the wild but bred in many colors

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably alteration of Kamilaroi (Pama-Nyungan language of northeast New South Wales) gijirrigaa.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Gamilaraay gijirrigaa.

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Examples

  • Peter and Vicky have about 30 birds; quail, Eastern Rosella, Cockatoos, parakeets (called budgerigar) here) red browed finches and the brightest-colored canary I've ever seen.

    TravelPod.com TravelStream™ — Recent Entries at TravelPod.com 2009

  • In the living room of his London home, film-maker Jamie Thraves is attempting to return to its cage a china-blue budgerigar named Sparky, which has taken up residence on the frame of a mirror.

    Jamie Thraves: Life is bittersweet 2011

  • In the living room of his London home, film-maker Jamie Thraves is attempting to return to its cage a china-blue budgerigar named Sparky, which has taken up residence on the frame of a mirror.

    Jamie Thraves: Life is bittersweet 2011

  • Given the way things have gone so far during this awards season I think it's a fair bet to say that everybody and their pet budgerigar will be ticking the box next to Mo'Nique's grammatically-bonkers name.

    Supporting Actress Blogathon: Mo'Nique as "Mary Jones" in Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire Glenn Dunks 2010

  • Ophelia remembered her father telling her a tale he had invented when she was very young about a tiny pink pill that miniaturized the swallower to such an extent that he or she was able to fly on the back of a budgerigar.9 According to Tom Maschler, Roald first started talking to him about The Minpins in the early 1980s, but had then put it aside.

    Storyteller Donald Sturrock 2010

  • A study conducted at the University of California, Irvine, found that a female budgerigar prefers to mate with a male that sounds like her.

    November 13th, 2006 2006

  • Yep--go check out the comment section of the budgerigar entry.

    aggregation librariane 2007

  • When I was young and living at home, we had a budgerigar that lived in a cage that hung on a wrought iron stand.

    At My Table 2006

  • When I was young and living at home, we had a budgerigar that lived in a cage that hung on a wrought iron stand.

    Archive 2006-11-01 2006

  • Well, I know pelicans and swans but I wouldn't know a grebe from a budgerigar.

    What I cooked last night. 2006

Comments

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  • A small Australian parrot, the grass or zebra parakeet, Melopsittacus undulatus, a popular cage-bird in Britain and elsewhere. See also budgie.

    Usage: 1968 K. WEATHERLY Roo Shooter 118 "Budgerigars came in thousands, wheeling in aerial manoeuvres of unbelievable intricacy."

    I wonder if someone could make a list of words that rhyme with budgerigar...

    February 7, 2007