egret meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

egret

noun

UK /ˈiːɡɹɪt/ · US /ˈiɡɹɪt/

Etymology From Middle English, from Anglo-Norman egret, aigrette (“egret”), from Old Occitan aigreta, diminutive of aigron (“heron”), from Medieval Latin hairo, from Frankish *haigro (“heron”). Cognate with Old High German heigaro (“heron”), Old English hrāgra (“heron”). Doublet of aigrette. More at heron.

Any of various wading birds of the genera Egretta or Ardea that includes herons, many of which are white or buff, and several of which develop fine plumes during the breeding season.

Egrets picked their way through the grass, attentive and showy as fussy girlfriends at the cows' sides.2011, Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones, Bloomsbury (2017), page 64:

A plume or tuft of feathers worn as a part of a headdress, or anything imitating such an ornament.

Biology, Botany, Natural sciences The flying feathery or hairy crown of seeds or achenes, such as the down of the thistle.

Obsolete The crab-eating macaque (Macaca fascicularis)

Derived terms: cattle egret, common egret, egretlike, egretry, great egret, great white egret, intermediate egret, large egret, little egret, median egret, reddish egret, snowy egret, western cattle egret, yellow-billed egret
Related terms: aigrette, heron