[ad. L. aviārium, f. avi-s bird: see -ARIUM.] A large cage, house or inclosure, in which birds are kept.

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1577.  Harrison, England, III. ii. 17. Our costlie and curious aviaries.

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1662.  Fuller, Worthies (1840), II. 263. Lincolnshire may be termed the aviary of England, for the wild fowl therein.

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1713.  Guardian, No. 49 (1756), I. 215. I look on the beaus and ladies as so many paraquets in an aviary.

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1849.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 310. The more than Italian luxury of Ham, with its busts, fountains, and aviaries.

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  b.  fig.

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1647.  Ward, Simp. Cobler, 9. What pity it is, that that Country … should now become the Aviary of Errors to the whole world.

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1810.  Coleridge, Friend (1865), 46. The statute of libel is a vast aviary, which encages the awakening cock … no less than the babbling magpie and ominous screech-owl.

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