wagtail

American

[wag-teyl] / ˈwægˌteɪl /

noun

any of numerous small, chiefly Old World birds of the family Motacillidae, having a slender body with a long, narrow tail tails that is habitually wagged up and down.
any of several similar birds, as the water thrushes of the genus Seiurus.

wagtail British

/ ˈwæɡˌteɪl /

noun

any of various passerine songbirds of the genera Motacilla and Dendronanthus, of Eurasia and Africa, having a very long tail that wags when the bird walks: family Motacillidae

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of wagtail

First recorded in 1500–10; wag + tail ¹

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Drama also erupted on the final day of round one voting after a nail-biting three-way tussle between the wedge-tailed eagle, the galah and the willie wagtail came down to a handful of write-in votes.

From The Guardian

A cement and brick pillbox had been built down by the river, right on the bend, among the sedges, destroying the nests of the teal and the gray wagtails.

From Literature

A lark went twittering up into the brighter sunshine above, soared and sang and came slowly down, ending with a sideways, spread-wing glide and a wagtail’s run through the grass.

From Literature

Two fledglings - a grey wagtail and a black redstart - were chased and swallowed when they landed in the water.

From BBC

The area is unusually abundant with animal life: the novel’s first chapter teems with wagtails, willow warblers, geese, horses, snow leopards, wolves, sheep, goats, geckos, and frogs.

From The New Yorker

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023