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# canary

«canary» in Mova's school dictionary: **A small yellow songbird often kept as a pet** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a canary, canaries); adjective canary yellow

### meaning for a pupil

1) A small yellow songbird often kept as a pet. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/canary/#m1)

2) A bright yellow colour (canary yellow). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/canary/#m2)

3) Something that gives an early warning of danger (a canary in a coal mine). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/canary/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In science and pets: canaries sing and come from the Canary Islands. In history and safety: miners took canaries underground; if the bird got sick, the air was dangerous, so they left. Phrase: the canary in the coal mine = an early warning sign.

### examples

- Our canary sings every morning. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/canary/#x1)
- Canaries need clean water and seeds. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/canary/#x2)
- She wore a canary yellow raincoat. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/canary/#x3)
- Miners used canaries to detect bad gas. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/canary/#x4)
- Falling bee numbers are a canary in the coal mine for nature. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/canary/#x5)
- The cat stared at the canary in its cage. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/canary/#x6)

### note

Plural: canaries (y to ies). The Canary Islands were named after dogs (Latin «canis»), not the birds; the birds were named after the islands.

### In the corpora

- [The old Magpie says "the night-air doesn't suit my throat", and a Canary calls its children to bed.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/6-alice-ch3-part2-a-long-tale/19/)
- [The caravan was «shining with newness, painted a canary-yellow picked out with green, and red wheels».](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/30-willows-ch2-part2-the-canary-coloured-cart/25/)
- [Horrid little carts—common carts—canary-coloured carts!»](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/32-willows-ch2-part4-the-wreck-and-the-new-craze/26/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «canary» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/canary/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.