Dictionary

ornithologize en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ˌɔɹnɪˈθɑləd͡ʒaɪz/ (General-American)
• /ˌɔːnɪˈθɒləd͡ʒaɪz/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From ornithology + -ize.

Meanings

1. (intransitive, uncommon) To practise ornithology.
   • But he who rises so early misses a fine sport indeed—the exciting game of ornithologizing (is there such a companion word to botanizing?) in bed. 1928 March 15, D. C. Peattie, “Springtime”, in The Evening Star, number 30,634, Washington, D.C., page 46, column 3:
   • I have pretty well finished ornithologizing this spring, and have done worse than ever. 1847 May 31, Spencer Fullerton Baird, “From Spencer F. Baird to William M. Baird”, in William Healey Dall, Spencer Fullerton Baird: A Biography, Including Selections from His Correspondence with Audubon, Agassiz, Dana, and Others, Philadelphia, Pa.; London: J. B. Lippincott Company, published 1915, page 167:
   • In early summer, several years ago, we were ornithologizing in a beautiful clump of natural wood along a steep brae face, so well sheltered from the north and east, and with so sunny and southern an aspect, that it had been known to us for years as the very paradise of all sorts of singing-birds in the nesting season. 1883 July 14, “Weasel and Hare. A Desperate Attempt of the Weasel to Secure a Hare.”, in The Bayonne Herald and Greenville Register, volume 18, number 2, Bayonne, N.J., page [6], column 3:
   • A lean man of fifty-five, with weak eyes and soft speech, he rakes shale on the road and botanizes, ornithologizes, geologizes and muses on the museum. 1963, Brooks Atkinson, Tuesdays and Fridays, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →LCCN, page 11:
   • The party consisted of the authors and three students from the Throop Polytechnic Institute of Pasadena. One of these, Philip Finger, was Mr. Mailliard’s assistant; another, Joseph Dixon, Mr. Grinnell’s; while the third, Walter P. Taylor, ornithologized on his own account. 1905 May–June, Joseph Mailliard, Joseph Grinnell, “Midwinter Birds on the Mojave Desert”, in Walter K[enrick] Fisher, editor, The Condor: A Magazine of Western Ornithlogy, volume VII, number 3, Palo, Alto, Calif.: Cooper Ornithological Club of California, page 71:
   • I. L. Gordon ornithologizes. Concurring with Margaret Goldsmith that ‘we cannot identify all the species exactly, since from the evidence of glosses it appears that the Anglo-Saxons did not make the clear distinctions between the species that are made now’, she remarks on huilpan (l. 21): […] 2008, Michael Alexander, The First Poems in English, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN:
   • Ornithologizing / People who are certified bird watchers keep lists of all the birds they have seen in their life. 2014 May 23, Larry Dablemont, “Ornithologizing”, in The Cass County Democrat Missourian, volume 134, number 32, Harrisonville, Mo., →OCLC, page 5B:
   • I strongly suspect that this bird has been mistaken by naturalists, who have ornithologized in this section, for the common American raven (Corvus carnivorus), since it seems to me impossible that any one should remain here any length of time without seeing it; […] 1873 January, C. E. Aiken, “A Glimpse at Colorado and its Birds”, in A[lpheus] S[pring] Packard, Jr., F[rederic] W[ard] Putnam, R. H. Ward, editors, The American Naturalist, an Illustrated Magazine of Natural History, volume VII, number 1, Salem, Mass.: Peabody Academy of Science, page 16:
   • I have always followed my own sweet will in Prospect Park; sketched, botanized, ornithologized, entomologized as my whim dictated, and my whim dictates stronger than ever in the present emergency, could I only be on hand to humor it. 1890 June 19, W[illiam] Hamilton Gibson, “Selections from the Mail. Mr. Jones, of Prospect Park. He Is Assured by Mr. W. Hamilton Gibson That the Artists Have No Desire to Transfer His Brutalities to Canvas.”, in New-York Tribune, volume L, number 15,924, New York, N.Y., published 21 June 1890, page 7, column 5:
   • Imagine the penguin-eyed view of a typical romantic comedy from Hollywood. “Oh look,” the female penguin says during the gushy scenes, “the humans are engaging in instinctive behaviors that have evolutionarily led them to procreate.” “Nonsense,” says the male. “You’re ornithologizing again.” 2005 September 13, “Do penguin brides get cold feet?”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif., page B12, column 2:
   • In the meantime, it would be a wise precaution for them to divert suspicion by wearing starched linen collars, neat cut-away coats, and, if possible, tall silk hats, while they are out in the woods botanizing or ornithologizing. 1891 July 25, “The Listener”, in Boston Evening Transcript, number 18,646, Boston, Mass., page 12, column 4:

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