BIRD OF PARADISE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does bird of paradise mean? 

• BIRD OF PARADISE (noun)
  The noun BIRD OF PARADISE has 3 senses:

1. a tropical flowering shrub having bright orange or red flowers; sometimes placed in genus Poinciana

2. ornamental plant of tropical South Africa and South America having stalks of orange and purplish-blue flowers resembling a bird

3. any of numerous brilliantly colored plumed birds of the New Guinea area

  Familiarity information: BIRD OF PARADISE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BIRD OF PARADISE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A tropical flowering shrub having bright orange or red flowers; sometimes placed in genus Poinciana

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

bird of paradise; Caesalpinia gilliesii; poinciana; Poinciana gilliesii

Hypernyms ("bird of paradise" is a kind of...):

flowering shrub (shrub noted primarily for its flowers)

Holonyms ("bird of paradise" is a member of...):

Caesalpinia; genus Caesalpinia (small spiny tropical trees or shrubs; includes the small genus or subgenus Poinciana)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Ornamental plant of tropical South Africa and South America having stalks of orange and purplish-blue flowers resembling a bird

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

bird of paradise; Strelitzia reginae

Hypernyms ("bird of paradise" is a kind of...):

herb; herbaceous plant (a plant lacking a permanent woody stem; many are flowering garden plants or potherbs; some having medicinal properties; some are pests)

Holonyms ("bird of paradise" is a member of...):

genus Strelitzia; Strelitzia (small genus of large perennial evergreen herbs having leaves resembling those of banana plants; sometimes placed in family Musaceae)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Any of numerous brilliantly colored plumed birds of the New Guinea area

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("bird of paradise" is a kind of...):

oscine; oscine bird (passerine bird having specialized vocal apparatus)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bird of paradise"):

Ptloris paradisea; riflebird (velvety black Australian bird of paradise with green and purple iridescence on head and tail)

Holonyms ("bird of paradise" is a member of...):

family Paradisaeidae; Paradisaeidae (birds of paradise)

 Context examples 

Bessie had been down into the kitchen, and she brought up with her a tart on a certain brightly painted china plate, whose bird of paradise, nestling in a wreath of convolvuli and rosebuds, had been wont to stir in me a most enthusiastic sense of admiration; and which plate I had often petitioned to be allowed to take in my hand in order to examine it more closely, but had always hitherto been deemed unworthy of such a privilege.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)