Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A European bird (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) having a short thick bill and in the male a red breast, blue-gray back, and black head, wings, and tail.
  • noun Any of several similar finches.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A very common oscine passerine bird of Europe, Pyrrhula vulgaris; a kind of finch of the family Fringillidæ, with a very short, stout, turgid bill, which, like the crown, is black, and a body bluish above, and, in the male, tile-red below: a favorite cage-bird, easily taught to sing a variety of notes.
  • noun This name is applied locally to many very different birds, as the pine-grosbeak, Pinicola enueleator; the house-finch, Carpodacus mexicanus frontalis; the black-breasted plover, Charadrius squatarola; the goldeneye Glaucionetta clangula americana; etc.
  • noun In England, a strong fence, or a hedge allowed to grow high enough to impede hunters, and much used as a test of skill in steeplechasing.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) A bird of the genus Pyrrhula and other related genera, especially the Pyrrhula vulgaris or Pyrrhula rubicilla, a bird of Europe allied to the grosbeak, having the breast, cheeks, and neck, red.
  • noun (Zoöl.) See Burion.
  • noun the pine finch.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any of various Old World finches in the genus Pyrrhula. They are Passerine birds with thick bills.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun common European finch mostly black and white with red throat and breast
  • noun United States architect who designed the Capitol Building in Washington which served as a model for state capitols throughout the United States (1763-1844)

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

bull +‎ finch

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Examples

  • The bullfinch is a native of the northern countries of Europe, occurring in Italy and other southern parts only as a winter visitor.

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 "Bulgaria" to "Calgary" Various

  • This is the universal "stake and bond" hedge of the shires, impenetrable to cattle, unbreakable, and imperishable, because the half-cut bonds, the stakes, and the small stuff all shoot again, and in a few years make the famous "bullfinch" with stake and bond below, and a tall mass of interlacing thorns and small stuff above.

    The Naturalist on the Thames 1882

  • The bullfinch is a homely little bird, almost as domestic as the robin; they just stay here, isn't that it? "

    Sister Teresa 1892

  • Three endemic birds are the Elfin-woods warbler (Dendroica angelae), Puerto Rican parrot (Amazona vittata), and Puerto Rican bullfinch (Loxigilla portoricensis).

    Puerto Rico 2009

  • Three endemic birds are the Elfin-woods warbler (Dendroica angelae), Puerto Rican parrot (Amazona vittata), and Puerto Rican bullfinch (Loxigilla portoricensis).

    Puerto Rico 2009

  • These ruminations were interrupted by a call down stairs to see a learned bullfinch.

    Camilla 2008

  • At night, when she returned to her own room from the play, she saw the little bullfinch, reposing in a superb cage, upon her table.

    Camilla 2008

  • The bullfinch had gone far, but the draft seemed to have riveted the persuasion.

    Camilla 2008

  • Cham of Tartary themselves, contended to load me with gifts — doth he think I am to abide in this old castle like a bullfinch in a cage, fain to sing as oft as he chooses to whistle, and all for seed and water?

    Quentin Durward 2008

  • The Eastern Himalaya EBA, which also overlaps with part of the Indo-Burma Hotspot, has nearly 20 endemic species, including four that are fully endemic to the Himalayas: the chestnut-breasted partridge (Arborophila mandellii, VU) and rusty-throated wren babbler (Spelaeornis badeigularis, VU), plus the white-throated tit (Aegithalos niveogularis) and orange bullfinch (Pyrrhula aurantiaca).

    Biological diversity in the Himalayas 2008

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