canary

noun

ca·​nary kə-ˈner-ē 

plural canaries

1

: a Canary Islands usually sweet wine similar to Madeira

2

: a lively 16th century court dance

3

: a small finch (Serinus canaria synonym S. canarius) of the Canary Islands that is usually greenish to yellow and is kept as a cage bird and singer

4

slang : informer sense 2

Synonyms

• informant
• informer
• rat

Examples of canary in a Sentence

a canary who was singing and giving up the names of some of the city's most notorious drug lords

Recent Examples on the Web

But as Malik Rahim puts it, New Orleans was just the canary in the American coal mine. —Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 22 July 2025

But the small-cap Russell 2000, the canary in the coal mine, and the old economy industrials, the DJIA, appear to be singing from a different hymn book. —Robert Barone, Forbes.com, 21 July 2025

On her laptop, a video played of a jolly British woman trying on all the yellow items in her closet—saffron, amber, daffodil, canary, flax. —Mona Awad, New Yorker, 20 July 2025

The music world is simply the latest canary in the coalmine. —Marni Rose McFall, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 July 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle French canarie, from Old Spanish canario, from Islas Canarias Canary Islands

First Known Use

1592, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Phrases Containing canary

• canary seed
• canary yellow
• like the cat that ate/got/swallowed the canary

Rhymes for canary

• askari
• astbury
• azeri
• banbury
• barberry
• blackberry
• blueberry
• cranberry
• dentary
• dewberry
• dogberry
• equerry

Kids Definition

canary

noun

ca·​nary kə-ˈne(ə)r-ē 

plural canaries

: a small usually yellow or greenish finch native to the Canary Islands that is often kept in a cage