parrot

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: par=rot

CIDE DICTIONARY

parrot, n. [Prob. fr. F. Pierrot, dim. of Pierre Peter. F. pierrot is also the name of the sparrow. Cf. Paroquet, Petrel, Petrify.].

•  In a general sense, any bird of the order Psittaci.  [1913 Webster]
•  Any species of Psittacus, Chrysotis, Pionus, and other genera of the family Psittacidæ, as distinguished from the parrakeets, macaws, and lories. They have a short rounded or even tail, and often a naked space on the cheeks. The gray parrot, or jako (Psittacus erithacus) of Africa (see Jako), and the species of Amazon, or green, parrots (Chrysotis) of America, are examples. Many species, as cage birds, readily learn to imitate sounds, and to repeat words and phrases.  [1913 Webster]

Carolina parrot (Zoöl.), the Carolina parrakeet. See Parrakeet. -- Night parrot, or Owl parrot. (Zoöl.) See Kakapo. -- Parrot coal, cannel coal; -- so called from the crackling and chattering sound it makes in burning. [Eng. & Scot.] -- Parrot green. (Chem.) See Scheele's green, under Green, n. -- Parrot weed (Bot.), a suffrutescent plant (Bocconia frutescens) of the Poppy family, native of the warmer parts of America. It has very large, sinuate, pinnatifid leaves, and small, panicled, apetalous flowers. -- Parrot wrasse, Parrot fish (Zoöl.), any fish of the genus Scarus. One species (Scarus Cretensis), found in the Mediterranean, is esteemed by epicures, and was highly prized by the ancient Greeks and Romans.

parrot, v. t. 

 To repeat by rote, without understanding, as a parrot.  [1913 Webster]

parrot, v. i. 

 To chatter like a parrot.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

parrot, n. & v.
--n.
1 any of various mainly tropical birds of the order Psittaciformes, with a short hooked bill, often having vivid plumage and able to mimic the human voice.
2 a person who mechanically repeats the words or actions of another.
--v.tr. (parroted, parroting) repeat mechanically.

Idiom

parrot-fashion (learning or repeating) mechanically without understanding. parrot-fish any fish of the genus Scarus, with a mouth like a parrot's bill and forming a protective mucous cocoon against predators.

Etymology

prob. f. obs. or dial. F perrot parrot, dimin. of Pierre Peter: cf. PARAKEET

THESAURUS

parrot

Babbitt, Middle American, Philistine, anal character, ape, bourgeois, burgher, come again, commit to memory, compulsive character, con, conformer, conformist, conventionalist, copier, copy, copycat, copyist, counterfeiter, cuckoo, dissembler, dissimulator, ditto, do a repeat, do again, do over, double, duplicate, echo, echoer, echoist, faker, forger, formalist, get by heart, get letter-perfect, have by heart, hit off, hit off on, hypocrite, imitate, imitator, impersonate, impersonator, impostor, know by heart, learn by heart, learn verbatim, memorize, methodologist, middle-class type, mime, mimer, mimic, mimicker, mock, mocker, mockingbird, model child, monkey, organization man, pedant, perfectionist, phony, plagiarist, plagiarize, plastic person, poll-parrot, polly, polly-parrot, poseur, precisian, precisianist, quote, recite, redo, redouble, reduplicate, reecho, regurgitate, reincarnate, reiterate, renew, repeat, repeat by heart, reproduce, revive, say again, sheep, simulator, square, study, swot up, take off, take off on, teenybopper, trimmer, yes-man

ROGET THESAURUS

parrot

Loquacity

N loquacity, loquaciousness, talkativeness, garrulity, multiloquence, much speaking, jaw, gabble, jabber, chatter, prate, prattle, cackle, clack, twaddle, twattle, rattle, caquet, caquetterie, blabber, bavardage, bibble-babble, gibble-gabble, small talk, fluency, flippancy, volubility, flowing, tongue, flow of words, flux de bouche, flux de mots, copia verborum, cacoethes loquendi, furor loquendi, verbosity, gift of the gab, talker, chatterer, chatterbox, babbler, rattle, ranter, sermonizer, proser, driveler, blatherskite, gossip, magpie, jay, parrot, poll, Babel, moulin a paroles, loquacious, talkative, garrulous, linguacious, multiloquous, largiloquent, chattering, chatty, declamatory, open-mouthed, fluent, voluble, glib, flippant, long tongued, long winded, trippingly on the tongue, glibly, off the reel, the tongue running fast, the tongue running loose, the tongue running on wheels, all talk and no cider, foul whisperings are abroad, what a spendthrift is he of his tongue!.

Imitation

N imitation, copying, transcription, repetition, duplication, reduplication, quotation, reproduction, mimeograph, xerox, facsimile, reprint, offprint, mockery, mimicry, simulation, impersonation, personation, representation, semblance, copy, assimilation, paraphrase, parody, take-off, lampoon, caricature, plagiarism, forgery, counterfeit, celluloid, imitator, echo, cuckoo, parrot, ape, monkey, mocking bird, mime, copyist, copycat, plagiarist, pirate, imitated, mock, mimic, modelled after, molded on, paraphrastic, literal, imitative, secondhand, imitable, aping, apish, mimicking, literally, to the letter, verbatim, literatim, sic, totidem verbis, word for word, mot a mot, exactly, precisely, like master like man, like - but oh! how different!, genius borrows nobly, pursuing echoes calling 'mong the rocks, quotation confesses inferiority, Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.