magpie

Meaning

Verb

1. (transitive) To mark with patches of black and white or light and dark.
2. (ambitransitive) To steal or hoard (items) as magpies are believed to do.
3. (intransitive) To talk idly; to talk about other people's private business.

Noun

1. One of several kinds of bird in the family Corvidae, especially Pica pica.
2. A superficially similar Australian bird, Gymnorhina tibicen, in the family Artamidae.
3. (figuratively) Someone who displays a magpie-like quality such as hoarding or stealing objects.
4. (slang) A fan or member of Newcastle United F.C.
5. The third circle on a target, between the inner and outer.
6. (UK, obsolete, slang) A halfpenny.
7. (attributive) A pattern resembling the pied plumage of a magpie.

Synonyms

pie

🥧

chatterbox

jay

jackdaw

pack rat

babbler

chatterer

prater

scavenger

spouter

black-billed magpie

common magpie

magpie moth

aggregator

currant moth

European magpie

gatherer

collector

blue jay

bird

🐦

Translations

gazza

Elster

pie

ekster

urraca

pega

garsa

saksağan

pica

καρακάξα

picaza

Pica pica

κίσσα

agaça

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈmæɡˌpaɪ/

Etymology

From Mag, a nickname for Margaret that was used to denote a chatterer, + archaic pie (“magpie”), from Old French pie, from Latin pīca, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)peyk- (“woodpecker, magpie”). Displaced native Old English agu, "magpie".