: any of various chiefly Old World oscine birds (family Motacillidae) related to the pipits and having a long tail that they habitually jerk up and down
Examples of wagtail in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The cubs were eating solid food already, including a small bird called a wagtail and a woolly rhinoceros—probably a younger rhino brought down by adults in the pack.
—
Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 June 2025
But this wagtail was wayward, likely ending up Wisconsin after being blown off course in a storm or getting confused when migrating from Siberia.
—Cleo Krejci, Journal Sentinel, 31 Dec. 2024
The word steort fell out of general use around 1300, surviving only in the names of birds like redstart and wagstart (better known today as the wagtail).
—Simon Horobin, Quartz, 10 Nov. 2019
Birdsong provides a natural soundtrack, as bulbuls, gray wagtails, warblers, blackbirds, and turtledoves all call the garden home.
—National Geographic, 20 Sep. 2019
A female duck grabbed the grey wagtail in her beak, dunked it several times beneath the water, then ate it, Petrovan says.
—Arden Dier, Fox News, 3 July 2017
The area is unusually abundant with animal life: the novel’s first chapter teems with wagtails, willow warblers, geese, horses, snow leopards, wolves, sheep, goats, geckos, and frogs.
—Evan James, The New Yorker, 8 June 2017
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Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 June 2025
But this wagtail was wayward, likely ending up Wisconsin after being blown off course in a storm or getting confused when migrating from Siberia.
—Cleo Krejci, Journal Sentinel, 31 Dec. 2024
The word steort fell out of general use around 1300, surviving only in the names of birds like redstart and wagstart (better known today as the wagtail).
—Simon Horobin, Quartz, 10 Nov. 2019
Birdsong provides a natural soundtrack, as bulbuls, gray wagtails, warblers, blackbirds, and turtledoves all call the garden home.
—National Geographic, 20 Sep. 2019
A female duck grabbed the grey wagtail in her beak, dunked it several times beneath the water, then ate it, Petrovan says.
—Arden Dier, Fox News, 3 July 2017
The area is unusually abundant with animal life: the novel’s first chapter teems with wagtails, willow warblers, geese, horses, snow leopards, wolves, sheep, goats, geckos, and frogs.
—Evan James, The New Yorker, 8 June 2017
Cite this Entry
“Wagtail.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wagtail. Accessed 31 Oct. 2025.
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