Word.ws English Dictionary

wariangle

wariangle noun: any of various aggressive shrikes of the genus Lanius, such as the red-backed shrike or great grey shrike, sometimes known as butcherbirds.

Noun

wariangle (plural wariangles)

  1. (UK, dialectal, regional, largely obsolete) Any of various aggressive shrikes of the genus Lanius, such as the red-backed shrike or great grey shrike, sometimes known as butcherbirds.
    • This was Charles Albert de Luines, a gentleman of the country of Avignon, who was introduced to a familiarity with Louis XIII. by breaking wariangles to catch sparrows.1768, Adrien Richer, Great events from little causes. Or, A selection of interesting and entertaining stories, drawn from the histories of different nations, etc, page 204
    • […] the young monarch when he was one day amusing himself with his wariangles, that being upwards of fixteen years of age, he was capable of taking the reins of government into his own hands, and that he ought to shake off the yoke which his mother and Concini had imposed on him[…]1792, The Historical magazine; or, Classical library of public events, page 182

Forms of wariangle

pluralwariangles
alternative formwarriangle

Origin of wariangle

From Middle English wariangel, weryangle, possibly from Old English *weargincel with the second element reanalyzed as *weargengel. Compare Old English wearg (“outlaw, criminal”), German Würgengel (“destroying angel, destroyer, killer”), -incel (“diminutive suffix”) and English worry.

Questions about wariangle

What does wariangle mean?
Wariangle means any of various aggressive shrikes of the genus Lanius, such as the red-backed shrike or great grey shrike, sometimes known as butcherbirds.
What part of speech is wariangle?
Wariangle is a noun.
What is the plural of wariangle?
The plural of wariangle is wariangles.

Words near wariangle in the dictionary

  1. Warhursts
  2. wari
  3. waria
  4. Warialda
  5. Warialda Rail
  6. wariangle
  7. wariangles
  8. warias
  9. waribashi
  10. warichi
  11. waridashi

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: wariangle (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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