magpieing

Verb

magpie (third-person singular simple present magpies, present participle magpieing, simple past and past participle magpied)

1. (transitive) To mark with patches of black and white or light and dark.
   • The little rail-enclosed plots that lay between the pavements and the hotels were magpied with torn paper […]1914, Oliver Onions, Mushroom Town, New York: George H. Doran, Part 4, Chapter 3, pp. 292-293

   Synonyms:

   mottle

2. (ambitransitive) To steal or hoard (items) as magpies are believed to do.
   • […] she liked to be able to have a picturesque fact or two with which to support herself when she too, to hold attention, wanted to issue moving statements as to revolutions, anarchies and strife in the offing. And she had noticed that when she magpied Tietjens’ conversations more serious men in...1924, Ford Madox Ford, Some Do Not ..., Part 2, Chapter 1
3. (intransitive) To talk idly; to talk about other people's private business.
   • He knew how people were magpieing with their malicious chatter that she had committed the cardinal sin of believing love was permanent […]1978, Jean Rikhoff, Where Were You in ’76?, New York: Richard Marek Publishers, Book 1, Chapter 2, p. 28

   Synonyms:

   chatter, gossip

See all 15 meanings of magpie