Whydah definition

wĭdə, hwĭdə
Any of several African songbirds of the genus Vidua, the male of which grows long, drooping, predominantly black tail feathers during the breeding season.
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Name for various African, black-and-white weaverbirds with distinctive drooping long tail-feathers on males in mating season, suitable as cage birds.
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Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
whydah
Plural:
whydahs

Origin of whydah

  • Probably alteration of widow (bird)

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • alteration of the first component of widow bird

    From Wiktionary

Whydah Sentence Examples

  • By the conquest of Whydah the Dahomeyans were brought in contact with a people of serpent worshippers, and ended by adopting from them the cult which they at first despised.

  • At Whydah, the chief centre, there is a serpent temple, tenanted by some fifty snakes; every python of the danh-gbi kind must be treated with respect, and death is the penalty for killing one, even by accident.

  • Far more noteworthy is the cult of the Python Danh-gbi of Whydah, which after taking root in Dahomey, became the most remarkable example of a thoroughly organic serpent-cult.

  • Every snake of its kind receives the profound veneration of the native of Whydah, who salutes it as master, father, mother and benefactor.

  • Herons, hawks, terns, Egyptian geese, fishing eagles (Gypohierax), the weaver and the whydah bird are found in the lower and middle Congo.

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