Meaning

(Scotland) A raven or crow (typically Corvus corax)..

Definitions by Sense

1. (Scotland) A raven or crow (typically Corvus corax).
2. (Australia) Either of two moth species of genus Oncopera, whose larvae feed on grasses, especially Oncopera intricata.

Example Sentences

1825, Basil Hall, journal entry quoted in 1837, Walter Scott, J. G. Lockhart (editor), Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart., in The Complete Works of Sir Walter Scott, Volume 7, page 417, From parrots we got to corbies, or ravens, and he told us with infinite humour a story of a certain tame bird of this description, whose constant delight was to do mischief, and to plague all mankind and beastkind.

And with them were some lang-gowned men who kenned the stars and would come out o' nights to talk to the deer and the corbies in their ain tongue.

In the "Twa Corbies" of Child it is the knight that is slain and one corbie is to sit on his "hause-bane" and the other is to pick out his eyes. In the West Virginia variants it is the horse that is slain, whose eyes the crows are going to pluck out.

The eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus), a species believed to be extinct on mainland Australia, is common in the run and front country, where it consumes corbie grubs and cockchafers, among slightly larger prey and carrion.

Word Forms

• corbies
• corby

Related Words

When Should You Use Corbie?

Use corbie when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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