lory

Everyday

1. A small, brightly coloured parrot from Australia, New Guinea and nearby islands, with a brush-tipped tongue for eating nectar and pollen from flowers. tree →
2. In Alice in Wonderland, the Lory is a bird in the pool of tears who argues with Alice and says «I am older than you, and must know better». tree →

In the lessons

Lories and lorikeets (their smaller cousins) are real birds; rainbow lorikeets are common in Australian gardens. In Alice, the Lory may be a joke about Alice's sister Lorina; it gets cross and sulky after Alice will not believe it, showing a grown-up who thinks age alone makes you right.

Examples

• A lory has a brush-like tongue for licking nectar. tree →
• The Lory sulked and said it was older than Alice. tree →
• We saw bright red and green lories at the bird park. tree →
• Rainbow lorikeets are a kind of lory found in Australia. tree →
• The Lory, the Duck and the Dodo all ran in the Caucus-race. tree →
• The lory drank sweet juice from the flowers. tree →
• Alice would not let the Lory win the argument just because it was older. tree →

Note

Plural lories (y — ies). Do not confuse with lorry (a truck in the UK) or lorikeet (a smaller kind).