parrot
Pluralparrots
Verbparrots, parroting, parroted
Pluralparrots
Formsparrots, parroting, parroted
- 1A bird of the order Psittaciformes, typically brightly colored, with a curved bill, and in many species able to mimic human speech.
A gray parrot at the sanctuary greets visitors by name.
Escaped parrots have established wild flocks in several American cities.
Note
A pet name hides in this word: Middle French perrot, perhaps a diminutive of Pierre, "little Peter," or perhaps a clipped form of perroquet, which also gave English parakeet. Zoologists use parrot at two widths, broadly for the whole order Psittaciformes and narrowly for the family Psittacidae alone. Psittacine is the technical synonym, and the bird's mimicry is what the verb "to repeat by rote" borrows.
- 2To repeat what has just been said, exactly and without necessarily understanding it.
Students who merely parrot the textbook rarely do well on essay questions.
The spokesperson parroted the official line about the merger word for word.
Similarrepeat, echo, regurgitate, recite
Note
Most often a verb of disapproval, aimed at people who repeat a party, company or newspaper line. Bill Clinton in 1996 attacked leaders who "parrot the tobacco company line." Back is a common partner, as when witnesses parrot back what prosecutors have told them, and the noun parroting carries the same scorn. The past tense is spelled parroted or parrotted, and the person who does it is a parrot too.
- 3A person who repeats the words or ideas of others.
Critics dismissed the columnist as a parrot for the administration.
The debate stage was full of parrots echoing their parties' talking points.
Note
An insult borrowed from the bird, aimed at someone who repeats opinions without having thought them. It usually takes of or for: Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1837 feared the scholar might sink into "the parrot of" other people's thinking. Mimic and copycat sit nearby, but a parrot copies words and ideas rather than manners or actions. Parroter is the plainer agent noun for whoever does the repeating.
- 4An aircraft transponder: the device that automatically answers radar signals with an identifying code.
Approach control asked the crew to recycle the parrot after the code dropped off the scope.
Military pilots strangle the parrot before entering certain training areas.
Similartransponder
Note
Cockpit and radio slang, and a fitting one: like a talking bird, the transponder answers when it is spoken to, replying to radar interrogation with a coded identity. The best-known phrase is strangle the parrot, meaning to switch the transponder to standby. The word belongs on the radio and among aircrew. In a flight manual or an incident report, write transponder.
Less common meanings
- 5A puffin; a stout black-and-white seabird with a large, brightly colored bill.
The boatman pointed out a parrot bobbing on the swell, its striped bill packed with small fish.
Each spring the islanders gathered eggs where the parrots burrowed along the cliff tops.
Note
An old seabird name that a modern reader will almost certainly take for the tropical bird. The comparison is to the puffin's deep, brightly colored bill, which also explains the fuller name sea-parrot. Tomnoddy is another old name for the same bird. Outside historical or deliberately old-fashioned writing, say puffin, or use sea-parrot if you want the older flavor without the confusion.
- 6A compact, fine-grained coal, also called channel coal, that ignites readily and burns with a bright, crackling flame.
The old pit sold most of its parrot to the gasworks in town.
Miners prized a seam that carried a foot of parrot above the ordinary coal.
Note
An old mining word, now obsolete, for the coal better known as cannel coal; channel coal is a variant of that name. Geologists class it as a compact bituminous coal rich in volatile matter. The name is traditionally said to come from the chattering the coal makes as it burns. In current technical writing, use cannel coal. Parrot belongs to historical accounts of the pits.
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Origin
First attested in 1525, from Middle French 'perrot', either a diminutive of Pierre or a shortened form of 'perroquet' (which also gave 'parakeet'). Various origins have been suggested for 'perroquet', including Spanish 'periquito' and Italian 'parrocchetto', but the relationship between these words is disputed. It replaced the earlier word 'popinjay'.