Idioms about birds.

[Sandman]

As the title suggests, any idiom that has to do with birds, I'll start it off:

A Bird In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Bush:

-Meaning-

Having something that is certain is much better than taking a risk for more, because chances are you might lose everything

Nest Egg:

-Meaning-

Savings set aside for future use.

Like a chicken with its head cut off:

-Meaning-

To act in a frenzied manner.

Don't count your chickens before they hatch:

-Meaning-

Don't rely on it until your sure of it.

[Rosa]

Another one I recall is "birds of a feather, flock together." This means that people of like minds or with the same motive always hang out together. I find that I always have to use it whenever I remind young people to stay out of trouble or I see them hanging out with the wrong crowd.

[Emmanuel]

"To kill two birds with one stone."

= To accomplish two things at once.

[erikao1o]

The English language sure does have a lot of idioms to do with birds! I never noticed this commonality until right now!

bird course= a course that is easy to pass, a course in college that you'll easily get a good mark in

bird brain= someone who is not intelligent, someone who has a small brain as birds have very small brains.

[JohnSword]

I'm pretty sure the two idioms I've mentioned below are self-explanatory:

'The early bird catches the worm'

'The birds and the bees'

[Victor Leigh]

  On 2/24/2014 at 6:09 AM, JohnSword said:

I'm pretty sure the two idioms I've mentioned below are self-explanatory:

'The early bird catches the worm'

'The birds and the bees'

The first one is self-explanatory but the second isn't. It takes a bit of thinking and explaining to find out that talking about the birds and the bees has nothing to do with aviary or apiary. It's about the process of reproducing human beings. In other words, talking about the birds and the bees is talking about sex.

[Sandman]

Awesome guys! keep 'em coming!

[CeliVega]

Well, not necessary birds, but types of birds in general:

as proud as a peacock

as a duck takes to water

as free as a bird

as graceful as a swan

as wise as an owl

That's all I got at the moment. And I actually don't know about "birds and bees" before I read the posts above >_>

[Victor Leigh]

Here are some words related to birds but do not contain the word 'bird' itself.

Preen - this is taken from the actions of a bird when it cleans its feather, sort of like dressing up. When you say a person preens, you mean that he is showing off, sort of like a bird does when it cleans itself up to show off.

Strut - this is another action of a bird which describes how a bird walks with straightened legs, high steps and a aloof demeanor. So when a person does the same thing, you can that he is strutting.

[Baburra]

I'm not sure whether this would be considered an idiom, but the phrase "For the birds" is used for when something is said to be nonsensical and should not be paid attention to. I think it was used more in the olden times, but I kind of think that just makes it a bit more charming.

[Denis Hard]

Some more:

Feather one's bed - [mis]use your position for gain.

                       

Chicken and egg situation - which came first? Yep. It's used to explain situations that are difficult to tell

                                      which of them caused the other because both lead to the other. Kind of

                                      cyclic.

Chicken feed - very small amount of cash.

Sleep with the chickens - go to bed early especially just when the sun is setting.

(not to be mistaken with

"sleep with the fish" which

I don't believe is an idiom

per se)

Pecking order - used to refer to how people, say, in some institution, are ranked in relation to each

                    each other.

                   

[GoldRose]

I can think of two:

-A little bird told me

-Sing like a canary

[Emmanuel]

"stuffed like a turkey"

I feel like that one's a bit of a reach. I think pretty much every bird-related idiom got covered in this thread.

[eppie]

Nice posts guys.  :grin:

Here's mine:

1. Bird's eye view - a broad view of everything usually from a high altitude or from a distance.

2. Night owl - referring to a person who (likes to) stay up late.

3. Wild goose chase - a useless search for something or someone where the possibility of finding is almost nil.

That's all that I can think of right now. 

[linguaholic]

A Night owl, that's funny. So we basically got the idiom 'An early bird' for someone who gets up really early and 'Night Owl' for someone who stays up late.