Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Jay

Jay (jā), n. [F. geai, OF. gai, jaj, perh. fr. OHG. gāhi. Cf. Gay.] (Zoöl.) Any one of the numerous species of birds belonging to Garrulus, Cyanocitta, and allied genera. They are allied to the crows, but are smaller, more graceful in form, often handsomely colored, and usually have a crest.

☞ The European jay (Garrulus glandarius) is a large and handsomely colored species, having the body pale reddish brown, lighter beneath; tail and wing quills blackish; the primary coverts barred with bright blue and black; throat, tail coverts, and a large spot on the wings, white. Called also jay pie, Jenny jay, and kæ. The common blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata.), and the related species, are brilliantly colored, and have a large erectile crest. The California jay (Aphelocoma Californica), the Florida jay (A. Floridana), and the green jay (Xanthoura luxuosa), of Texas and Mexico, are large, handsome, crested species. The Canada jay (Perisoreus Canadensis), and several allied species, are much plainer and have no crest. See Blue jay, and Whisky jack.

Jay thrush (Zoöl.), any one several species of Asiatic singing birds, of the genera Garrulax, Grammatoptila, and related genera of the family Crateropodidæ; as, the white-throated jay thrush (G. albogularis), of India.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.