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merlesse. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
merlesse, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
merlesse in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
merlesse you have here. The definition of the word
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French
Etymology
From merle + -esse.[1]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mɛʁ.lɛs/
- Rhymes: -ɛs
- Hyphenation: mer‧lesse
Noun
merlesse f (plural merlesses, masculine merle)
- Female blackbird
1874, George Sand, Contes d’une grand’mère, Michel Lévy frères, page 159:Un jour que Catherine avait plus songé à chercher des nids dans les buissons qu’à garder ses bêtes, elle trouva vers le soir un nid de merles avec trois gros petits déjà bien emplumés. Ils ne paraissaient guère farouches, car, lorsqu’elle leur montrait le bout de son doigt en imitant le cri de la merlesse, ils ouvraient leurs becs jaunes et montraient leurs larges gosiers tout roses.- One day, when Catherine had thought more of looking for nests in the bushes than of keeping her animals, towards evening she found a blackbird’s nest with three large cubs already well feathered. They hardly seemed fierce, for when she showed them the tip of her finger, imitating the cry of the blackbird, they opened their yellow beaks and showed their large pink throats.
Synonyms
Further reading
- ^ Adolphe Hatzfeld, Arsène Darmesteter, Antoine Thomas (1890) Dictionnaire général de la langue française du commencement du XVIIe siècle à nos jours