Word.ws English Dictionary

yardbird

UK/ˈjɑːd.bəːd/US/ˈjɑɹd.bɝd/

yardbird noun: a chicken.

Noun

yardbird (plural yardbirds)

  1. (US, slang) A chicken.
  2. (US, slang) A person who is imprisoned.
    • The working convict is a rare exception, sometimes envied because his time is occupied, sometimes derided for his deviance from the yardbird norm.1985, John P. Conrad, “Charting a Course for Imprisonment Policy,”, in Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, volume 478, page 126
  3. (US, slang) A soldier who is required to perform menial work on the grounds of a military base.
    • As the Marines expanded to war strength, Lou Diamond was the ideal liaison between crusty old-timers and impressionable recruits. He taught quick action by threats of yardbird detail.1943 July 5, “In the Rough”, in Time

yardbird meaning in Tamil and Urdu

yardbird in Tamil

ஊழிய வேலை தரப்படும் படைவீரர்

yardbird in Urdu

اناڑی, نااہل, نیا فوجی, نکما, سزا یافتہ قیدی

Forms of yardbird

pluralyardbirds
alternative formyard bird

Origin of yardbird

From yard + bird. Attested since 1956 in the sense of ‘convict,’ derived from the idea of prison yards. During World War II, it meant ‘basic trainee’ among the armed forces.

Questions about yardbird

What does yardbird mean?
Yardbird means a chicken.
What is yardbird in Tamil?
Yardbird in Tamil is ஊழிய வேலை தரப்படும் படைவீரர். See Yardbird meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is yardbird?
Yardbird is a noun.
How do you pronounce yardbird?
Yardbird is pronounced /ˈjɑːd.bəːd/ (UK).
What is the plural of yardbird?
The plural of yardbird is yardbirds.

Words near yardbird in the dictionary

  1. yardarmed it
  2. yardarming
  3. yardarming it
  4. yardarms
  5. yardarms it
  6. yardbird
  7. yardbirds
  8. Yarde
  9. yarded
  10. yarden
  11. yardens

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: yardbird (page history and authors); yardbird (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); yardbird (Urdu Wiktionary) (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-yardbird.ogg.

Cite this entry: “yardbird.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/yardbird. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.