Dictionary

canary in the coal mine en · NOUN

Meanings

1. (alt-of, alternative) Alternative form of canary in a coal mine.
   alt of canary in a coal mine
   • The second canary in the coal mine — along with the Arctic— is Antarctica, the largest mass of ice on the planet by far. 2006, Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It, Rodale, →ISBN, page 176:
   • Many authors state, almost as a truism, that amphibians are more vulnerable to environmental insults than are other vertebrates and therefore might serve as a kind of “canary in the coal mine,” an indicator of environmental degradation (e.g., Carroll 1999). 2007, Kentwood D. Wells, The Ecology and Behavior of Amphibians, The University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, pages 784–785:
   • Sex is the canary in the coal mine. It's the first thing to go when a marriage is in trouble. 2009, Erica Manfred, He's History, You're Not: Surviving Divorce After 40, GPP Life, →ISBN, page 167:

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