Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun US Alternative form of
whisky jack (gray jay ,Canada jay ).
Etymologies
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Examples
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Over the woods hung a dead stillness, except for the lonely call of an occasional crow or for the scream of the impudent whiskey-jack.
Corporal Cameron of the North West Mounted Police; a tale of the Macleod trail Ralph Connor 1898
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If a deer is hung up and they can get at it they will pick it to pieces with their sharp bills; and their carnivorous tastes and their habit of coming round hunters 'camps after the game that is left out, call to mind their kinsman, the whiskey-jack or moose-bird of the northern forests.
reesetee commented on the word whiskey-jack
Nickname for the Gray Jay. The bird's fearless and venturesome behavior towards people has earned it many nicknames. Whiskey-Jack is the best known; it's believed to have derived from the mispronunciation of the Native American name wiss-ka-tjon or wis-ka-chon. The bird is also known by several other nicknames, including venison-hawk, grease-bird, lumberjack, and meat-bird, all of which allude to the bird’s habits and its taste for carrion.
December 12, 2007