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# oilbird

noun (an oilbird, oilbirds)

«oilbird» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

A brown, night-flying bird of South America and Trinidad that lives in caves, eats fruit and finds its way in the dark by clicking, a bit like a bat. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/oilbird/#m1)

### In the lessons

A science word in lessons on echolocation and adaptations: oilbirds are among the few birds that echolocate. They are called oilbirds because the chicks get very fat, and long ago people boiled them to make oil for lamps and cooking.

### Examples

- The oilbird lives in dark caves in South America. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/oilbird/#x1)
- Oilbirds make clicking sounds to find their way, like bats. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/oilbird/#x2)
- Oilbirds eat fruit, not insects. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/oilbird/#x3)
- Thousands of oilbirds come out of the cave at night. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/oilbird/#x4)
- Oilbird chicks are very fat, which is how they got their name. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/oilbird/#x5)
- We learnt that oilbirds and swiftlets can both echolocate. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/oilbird/#x6)

### Note

Countable; one word. Use «an» (an oilbird). It is the only bird of its family. Oilbirds are protected; people no longer use them for oil.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «oilbird» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/O/oilbird/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«oilbird» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/oilbird.html) on Mova free.