BLACKBIRD

PRONUNCIATION: (BLAK-buhrd)

MEANING: noun: 1. Any of various birds having black plumage.
2. An indentured laborer or slave kidnapped from the South Pacific.
verb tr.: To kidnap a person to work as an indentured laborer or slave.
verb intr.: To engage in slave trade.

ETYMOLOGY: From the former use of the term blackbird for someone from the South Pacific islands. From the 1860s to 1904 they were kidnapped to mine guano in Peru and work in sugarcane and cotton plantations in Australia and Fiji, and elsewhere. Earliest documented use: 1350 (for the figurative sense of the word: 1845). Also see shanghai and barbados.
Read more about blackbirding here and here.
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BLACKBID - six spades, doubled and redoubled

BLACKBARD - Uncle Remus

BLOCKBIRD - the Lego Falcon

Last edited by wofahulicodoc; 08/17/17 08:06 PM.