FromMag, a nickname forMargaret that was used to denote achatterer, + archaicpie(“magpie”), fromOld Frenchpie, fromLatinpīca, fromProto-Indo-European*(s)peyk-(“woodpecker, magpie”). Displaced nativeOld Englishagu, "magpie".

• IPA^(key):/ˈmæɡˌpaɪ/

• Audio(General Australian):

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• Hyphenation:mag‧pie

magpie (pluralmagpies)

2. One of several kinds ofbird in the familyCorvidae, especiallyPica pica.

   Synonyms:maggie,Eurasian magpie,European magpie,common magpie,pica,(obsolete)pie,(regional)piet

3. A superficially similar Australian bird,Gymnorhina tibicen orCracticus tibicen.
4. (figurative) Someone who displays a magpie-like quality such as hoarding or stealing objects.
   • 2005 April 15, Michiko Kakutani, “The Plot Thins, or Are No Stories New?”, inThe New York Times‎^[1],→ISSN:

     Not only is Mr. Booker a voraciousmagpie (who does not always acknowledge the sources of his ideas), but he also turns out to be an annoyingly biased and didactic one.

5. (slang) A fan or member ofNewcastle United F.C.
6. (military,firearms) The third circle on atarget, between theinner andouter.
7. (UK,slang,obsolete) Ahalfpenny.

magpie (third-person singular simple presentmagpies,present participlemagpieing,simple past and past participlemagpied)

1. (transitive) Tomark withpatches of black and white or light and dark.

   Synonym:mottle

   • 1914,Oliver Onions,Mushroom Town‎^[2], New York: George H. Doran,Part 4, Chapter 3, pp. 292-293:

     The little rail-enclosed plots that lay between the pavements and the hotels weremagpied with torn paper[…]

   • 1952,Michael McLaverty, chapter 15, inTruth in the Night‎^[3], Dublin: Poolbeg, published1986, page179:

     […] she stood at the window and saw the lake blue with spring and a few patches of snow thatmagpied the hills.

   • 1963,Alan Garner, chapter 8, inThe Moon of Gomrath‎^[4], New York: Collins, published1979, page64:

     […] they looked down upon Highmost Redmanhey, timber and plastermagpied by the moon, and a lamp in the window of the room where Susan lay.

   • 1979, Jack S. Scott, chapter 6, inA Clutch of Vipers,‎^[5], New York: Harper & Row, page76:

     […] young Inspector Cruse arrived at the Dun Cow, entering through a door tricked out as Tudor and set into a façademagpied with white paint and nailed-on beams[…]

2. (ambitransitive) Tosteal orhoard (items) as magpies are believed to do.
   • 1924,Ford Madox Ford,Some Do Not ...‎^[6], Part 2, Chapter 1:

     […] she liked to be able to have a picturesque fact or two with which to support herself when she too, to hold attention, wanted to issue moving statements as to revolutions, anarchies and strife in the offing. And she had noticed that when shemagpied Tietjens’ conversations more serious men in responsible positions were apt to argue with her and to pay her more attention than before....

   • 1999,Peter Straub, chapter 131, inMr. X‎^[7], New York: Random House, page469:

     “I had to borrow those photographs Aunt Nettie was storing in her closet.”
     “Isn’t that interesting?” May said. “I have to say, I never did understand why Mrs. Hatch asked me tomagpie them out of the library.”

   • 2012, Alice Hart,Friends at My Table‎^[8], London: Quadrille, page175:

     I havemagpied from here and there, borrowing influences from Morocco, Greece, Italy and my notebooks to end up with a handful of easy little dishes that complement each other.

3. (intransitive) Totalkidly; to talk about other people's private business.

   Synonyms:chatter,gossip

   • 1978,Jean Rikhoff,Where Were You in ’76?‎^[9], New York: Richard Marek Publishers, Book 1, Chapter 2, p. 28:

     He knew how people weremagpieing with their malicious chatter that she had committed the cardinal sin of believing love was permanent[…]

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