Word.ws English Dictionary

a bird in the hand

a bird in the hand is the ellipsis of a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Meaning of a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

Proverb

a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

  1. A sure thing is preferable to the mere chance at something more.
    • It is more sykyr a bryd in youre fyste
      Than to have thre in the sky above15th c., John Capgrave, Life of St Katherine, Bodleian MS Rawlinson poet. 118, Bk. II

Questions about a bird in the hand

What is a bird in the hand the ellipsis of?
A bird in the hand is the ellipsis of a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Words near a bird in the hand in the dictionary

  1. A batteries
  2. A battery
  3. a battuta
  4. A Baña
  5. a bene placito
  6. a bird in the hand
  7. a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
  8. a bit
  9. a bit much
  10. a blessing and a curse
  11. A board

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: a bird in the hand (page history and authors); a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “a bird in the hand.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/a_bird_in_the_hand. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.