Forms: 1 finc, 5–6 fynche, 4– finch. [OE. finc str. masc. = MDu. vinke (Du. vink), OHG. fincho wk. masc. (MHG. vinke, Ger. fink); not recorded in ON. (Sw. fink, Da. finke).
The OTeut. *finki-z, finkjon-, would correspond to a pre-Teut. *ping-, which Fick finds in Gr. πἰγγα young bird (Hesych.), and in various Indo-European words denoting color: OSl. pęgŭ particolored, Skr. pinga brown, reddish, also young animal, pinjȧra gold-colored, pingalá brown, brown animal (cf. Gr. πἰγγαλος lizard). Cf. also SPINK, the chaffinch = Gr. σπίγγος and σπίζα (:—*spingja). Of similar sound and meaning, but not demonstrably connected, are F. pinson, Sp. pinchon, pinzon, Catal. pinsá, It. pincione:—med.Lat. pinciōn-em; also Welsh pinc, Eng. dial. pink, Breton pint, tint, the chaffinch; and Russian пѣhka willow-wren (and cognates in other mod. Slav. langs.) It seems possible that some at least of these words are of echoic origin; the call-note of the male chaffinch is, in England, often represented as ‘spink’ or ‘pink.’]
1. A name given to many small birds of the order Passeres, esp. to those of the genus Fringilla or family Fringillidæ. † To pull a finch: to swindle an ignorant or unsuspecting person (cf. to pluck a pigeon).
a. 700. Epinal Gloss., 423. Fringella, fine.
c. 1050. Ags. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 286. Fringilla, finc.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 654. Ful prively a finch eke coude he pull.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 657.
| In many places were nyghtyngales, | |
| Alpes, fynches, and wodewales. |
c. 1532. Dewes, Introd. Fr., in Palsgr., 912. The fynche, le pinchon.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., III. i. 133.
1655. Moufet & Bennet, Health’s Improv. (1746), 188. Finches for the most part live upon Seeds.
1720. Gay, Poems (1745), II. 176.
| The juicy pear invites the feather’d kind, | |
| And pecking finches scoop the golden rind. |
1847. Lytton, Lucretia, 31. The linnet and finch sang still from the neighbouring copses.
1878. Browning, Poets Croisic, lxxi.
| Brisk as any finch, | |
| He twittered. |
b. With defining words, forming popular names of species of Fringillidæ and of other birds of similar appearance, as fallow finch, the wheatear; mountain finch, the brambling; purple finch (U.S.), (see quot. 1884); storm finch, the stormy petrel; thistle finch (= F. chardonneref), yellow finch, rare names for the goldfinch. Also BULLFINCH, CHAFFINCH, GOLDFINCH, GREENFINCH.
1678. Ray, Willughby’s Ornith., 255. It [the great pied Mountain-Finch] is of the bigness of a yellow Finch, hath a thick, short, strong Neb, black at the very point, and the rest yellow.
1708. Motteux, Rabelais, IV. lix. (1737) 244 Snytes…. Thistle-Finches.
1768. Pennant, Zool., II. 434. Like the storm-finch, they are dispersed over the whole Atlantic ocean.
a. 1826. Longf., Autumn, 23.
| The purple finch, | |
| That on wild cherry and red cedar feeds. |
1828. Stark, Elem. Nat. Hist., I. 245. F. montifringilla, Lin. The Mountain Finch. Head, cheeks, nape, and top of the back black; throat, front of the neck, breast, scapulars, and smaller coverts of the wings orange-red; a narrow orange transverse band on the wings; the three exterior quills black; rump and lower parts white; flanks reddish, with black spots; tail black.
1884. Coues, N. Amer. Birds (ed. 2), 346. Carpodacus purpureus, Purple Finch (better Crimson Finch). Ibid., 347. C. Cassini … Cassin’s Purple Finch.
2. attrib. and Comb., as † finch-bird, -tribe. Also † finch-egg, a contemptuous epithet.
1552. Huloet, Finche byrde, achantis.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., V. i. 41. Patr. Out, gall! Ther. Finch Egge!
1802. Bingley, Anim. Biog. (1813), II. 168, heading. Of the Finch Tribe in General.
