1. (Also king’s-bird, king bird of paradise.) A species of bird of paradise, Paradisea regia.
1779. Forrest, Voy. N. Guinea, 141. The late Linneus, as well as Count Buffon, reckon the King’s bird among the birds of paradise.
1828. Webster, Kingbird, a fowl of the genus Paradisea.
1862. Wood, Nat. Hist., II. 418. The Manucode, or King Bird of Paradise, so called because it was thought to exercise a regal sway over the other species.
2. A royal bird; ? the eagle.
1840. Browning, Sordello, VI. 583. As the king-bird with ages on his plumes Travels to die in his ancestral glooms.
3. An American tyrant fly-catcher, usually Tyrannus carolinensis (also called ‘Bee-Martin’), remarkable for its boldness and intrepidity during the breeding season.
1828. in Webster.
18[?]. in Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7), XVI. 569/1. With spring’s return the king-bird hither hastes.
1858. O. W. Holmes, Aut. Breakf.-t., 32. If you ever saw a crow with a king-bird after him, you will get an image of a dull speaker and a lively listener.
1896. Newton, Dict. Birds, 1000. The glory of the Family may be said to culminate in the king of King-birds, Muscivora regia.
4. A sailor’s name for various species of tern (Newton, Dict. Birds, s.v.).
