One of several kinds of bird in the family Corvidae, especially Pica pica.
Used in a Sentence
magpies
Definitions, parts of speech, synonyms, and sentence examples for magpies.
Editorial note
Plastics seem to attract the crows and magpies who will vigorously shred any seedlings near bits of it.
Examples18
Definitions4
Parts of speech1
Quick take
One of several kinds of bird in the family Corvidae, especially Pica pica.
Meaning at a glance
The clearest senses and uses of magpies gathered in one view.
A superficially similar Australian bird, Gymnorhina tibicen, in the family Artamidae.
A town in the City of Ballarat, central western Victoria, Australia.
Definitions
Core meanings and parts of speech for magpies.
noun
One of several kinds of bird in the family Corvidae, especially Pica pica.
noun
A superficially similar Australian bird, Gymnorhina tibicen, in the family Artamidae.
noun
A town in the City of Ballarat, central western Victoria, Australia.
noun
(figurative) Someone who displays a magpie-like quality such as hoarding or stealing objects.
Example sentences
Plastics seem to attract the crows and magpies who will vigorously shred any seedlings near bits of it.
Initially, the magpies attempted to fight their reflections but they quickly learned that there was no point.
To begin with it had the same reaction as the magpies and attempted to fight itself in the mirror.
It would be like trying to predict the effect of releasing magpies on the squirrel population of a forrest.
The researchers subjected the magpies to a mark test, wherein a mark is placed on the subject's body in such a way that it can only be seen in a mirror.
There was a family of magpies, a number of chickens and a solitary male guineafowl.
Ironically one might even get projects to fix the mess left behind, as the magpies focus their attention into something else.
When the magpies engaged in activity that was directed towards the mark (e.g.
Use all that to separate screwing around time (reading about Magpies on wikipedia, fiddling with Text Editor colour scheme) from useful productive time.
Stanley tumblers, no, but even magpies like collecting rocks and buttons and things.
He got attacked by magpies, fell off and suffered a head injury.
Some are interesting anyway.) In a position like that, make one slip and a thousand cackling magpies instantly descend and start pecking at you.
Quote examples
And so you have the "magpies" who try and figure out some of these trade-offs for themselves by experimentation.
To continue your chain: Eurasian magpies are conscious, but also know themselves in the mirror (the "mirror self-recognition" test).
Interestingly, in the linked article, birds of the family Corvidae (crows, ravens, European magpies, gray jays (aka "camp robbers"), and others) pass the mirror test, possibly the only bird type that can.
Proper noun examples
Magpies are self-aware and in tests have used mirrors to assist in removing stickers placed on their plumage.
Essentially we shop like Magpies, people frequently buy the wrong product for themselves because it's the better advertised and branded product.
Magpies hopping on to the newest trend, as always.
Frequently asked questions
Short answers drawn from the clearest meanings and examples for this word.
How do you use magpies in a sentence?
Plastics seem to attract the crows and magpies who will vigorously shred any seedlings near bits of it.
What does magpies mean?
One of several kinds of bird in the family Corvidae, especially Pica pica.
What part of speech is magpies?
magpies is commonly used as noun.