crombec, noun

/ˈkrɒmbek//ˈkrɔmbek/
Forms:
Also krombek, and (formerly) kromebec.
Origin:
Afrikaans, DutchShow more Englished form of Afrikaans krombek, from Dutch krom crooked + bek beak. The earliest occurrence of the name is in F. le Vaillant’s Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux d’Espagne, 1802.
The bird Sylvietta refuscens of the Sylviidae, with a long, curved beak and short tail; stumptail.
Note:
In G.L. Maclean’s Roberts’ Birds of Sn Afr. (1993), the name ‘longbilled crombec’ is used for this species. Although S. refuscens is the only crombec which occurs in South Africa, the name ‘crombec’ is given in general English to all birds of this genus.
c1808 C. von Linné System of Nat. Hist. VIII. 466The curved-bill Fig-eater, This species is plentiful about the Elephant-river, where it is called kromebec, which in Dutch signifies a curved bill.
1884 Layard & Sharpe Birds of S. Afr. 303Sylvietta rufescens...The ‘Stomp-stertje’ of the Dutch colonists, and the ‘Crombec’ of Le Vaillant.
1901 Stark & Sclater Birds of S. Afr. II. 115Sylvietta refuscens, The Crombec...‘Stomp-Stertjie’ (Stump-tail) of Dutch Colonists.
1937 M. Alston Wanderings 38In this aloe hedge..were mouse-birds and wren-warblers and that funny-looking little warbler known as the crombec or stumptail, which has no tail to speak of.
1962 W.R. Siegfried Some Protected Birds of Cape Prov. Pl.130Crombec, Long-billed Crombec, Stumptail, Sylvietta refuscens. A very distinctive little bird which in the field appears to have no tail. Found in a wide variety of bush and shrub habitats.
1978 McLachlan & Liversidge Roberts Birds of S. Afr. 437Crombec...Sylvietta refuscens...Voice: A pretty, shrill call, ‘peep-peep-peep’. The phrase used for another species of crombec is equally good for this species.
1993 G.L. Maclean Roberts’ Birds of Sn Afr. 563Longbilled Crombec...Bill long (much longer than that of Redfaced Crombec).
The bird Sylvietta refuscens of the Sylviidae, with a long, curved beak and short tail; stumptail.
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crocodile, nounn.cross-berry, nounn.
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