PARROT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does parrot mean? 

• PARROT (noun)
  The noun PARROT has 2 senses:

1. usually brightly colored zygodactyl tropical birds with short hooked beaks and the ability to mimic sounds

2. a copycat who does not understand the words or acts being imitated

  Familiarity information: PARROT used as a noun is rare.

• PARROT (verb)
  The verb PARROT has 1 sense:

1. repeat mindlessly

  Familiarity information: PARROT used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PARROT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Usually brightly colored zygodactyl tropical birds with short hooked beaks and the ability to mimic sounds

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("parrot" is a kind of...):

bird (warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings)

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

popinjay (an archaic term for a parrot)

poll; poll parrot (a tame parrot)

African gray; African grey; Psittacus erithacus (commonly domesticated grey parrot with red-and-black tail and white face; native to equatorial Africa)

amazon (mainly green tropical American parrots)

macaw (long-tailed brilliantly colored parrot of Central America and South America; among the largest and showiest of parrots)

kea; Nestor notabilis (large brownish-green New Zealand parrot)

cockatoo (white or light-colored crested parrot of the Australian region; often kept as cage birds)

cockateel; cockatiel; cockatoo parrot; Nymphicus hollandicus (small grey Australian parrot with a yellow crested head)

lovebird (small African parrot noted for showing affection for their mates)

lory (small brightly colored Australasian parrots having a brush-tipped tongue for feeding on nectar and soft fruits)

parakeet; paraquet; paroquet; parrakeet; parroket; parroquet (any of numerous small slender long-tailed parrots)

Holonyms ("parrot" is a member of...):

order Psittaciformes; Psittaciformes (an order of birds including parrots and amazons and cockatoos and lorikeets and lories and macaws and parakeets)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A copycat who does not understand the words or acts being imitated

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("parrot" is a kind of...):

ape; aper; copycat; emulator; imitator (someone who copies the words or behavior of another)

Derivation:

parrot (repeat mindlessly)

• PARROT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they parrot    ... he / she / it parrots   
Past simple: parroted   
Past participle: parroted   
-ing form: parroting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Repeat mindlessly

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

The students parroted the teacher's words

Hypernyms (to "parrot" is one way to...):

echo; repeat (to say again or imitate)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

parrot (a copycat who does not understand the words or acts being imitated)

 Context examples 

It could only be a night parrot.

(Aboriginal Rangers Find Evidence of One of Australia’s Rarest Birds, VOA)

And the parrot would say, with great rapidity, Pieces of eight!

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

That social-settlement woman is no more than a sociological poll-parrot.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

"That's a lie! Oh, lor!" cried the parrot, pecking at Laurie's toes.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

A very rare syndrome characterized by multiple congenital abnormalities including abnormally shaped head, mandibular hypoplasia, parrot nose, bilateral congenital cataracts, microphthalmia, dwarfism and hypotrichosis.

(Hallermann Syndrome, NCI Thesaurus)

He waved his hand for silence, and went on:—Can you tell me why the tortoise lives more long than generations of men; why the elephant goes on and on till he have seen dynasties; and why the parrot never die only of bite of cat or dog or other complaint?

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Before 2013, scientists didn't know what the call sounded like, then a night parrot was found in the state of Queensland.

(Aboriginal Rangers Find Evidence of One of Australia’s Rarest Birds, VOA)

The parrot sat, preening her plumage, on Long John's shoulder.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

"What do you want now?" she asked, looking sharply over her spectacles, while the parrot, sitting on the back of her chair, called out...

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

"No; the science professors should live. They're really great. But it would be a good deed to break the heads of nine-tenths of the English professors—little, microscopic-minded parrots!"

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)