# canary

/kəˈnɛɹi/ (US) · /kənˈeəɹi/ (UK)

Source: https://englishreference.com/word/canary
Updated: 2026-08-15

## Senses

### 1. the bird

noun · CEFR A2

a small, usually yellow bird that is known for its singing.

For teachers: a small finch of the genus Serinus, native to the Canary Islands and widely kept as a pet for its song.

- The canary sang loudly in its cage by the window every morning.
- Domesticated canaries have been bred for centuries, resulting in a wide variety of colors and distinct singing styles preferred by enthusiasts.

### 2. an informer

noun · CEFR C1 · Slang · Informal

a person who tells the police or authorities about a crime or secret.

For teachers: an informer or snitch who provides information to authorities, typically about illegal activities.

- The gang was worried that one of their members might turn into a canary.
- The prosecution's case relied heavily on a canary who had been part of the inner circle for over a decade.

### 3. early warning or test

noun · CEFR B2

a person or thing used to test if something is dangerous before others try it.

For teachers: a test subject or indicator used to detect danger or failure at an early stage, referencing the historical use of birds in coal mines.

- Small businesses are often the canary in the coal mine for a bad economy.
- Environmental scientists view the decline of these specific amphibians as a canary in the coal mine for the health of the entire ecosystem.

### 4. software testing

noun · CEFR C1 · Technical

a new version of software that is tested by a small group of people first.

For teachers: a software deployment strategy where a change is rolled out to a small subset of users to verify stability before a full release.

- We are running a canary release to make sure the new feature doesn't crash.
- The engineering team monitored the canary deployment for latency spikes before proceeding with the global rollout of the update.

### 5. the color

noun · CEFR B1

a bright, light yellow color.

For teachers: a light, slightly greenish-yellow color resembling the plumage of a canary.

- She wore a beautiful canary dress to the summer wedding.
- The artist used a touch of canary yellow to highlight the sunlit portions of the meadow in the landscape painting.

### 6. yellow-colored

adjective · CEFR B1

having a bright yellow color.

For teachers: of a light, bright yellow color.

- The walls were painted a bright canary shade that made the room feel warm.
- He drove a canary sports car that was impossible to miss in the heavy city traffic.

### 7. to inform

verb · CEFR C2 · Slang · Informal

to tell secrets or report someone to the authorities.

For teachers: to act as an informer; to betray secrets regarding illegal activities to the police.

- He decided to canary on his partners to get a shorter prison sentence.
- Under intense pressure from investigators, the suspect finally began to canary about the organization's offshore accounts.

## Examples

- The canary sings every morning in the kitchen.
- The company hired a canary to spot financial risks before they became major problems.
- In the dark, silent mines of the past, a caged canary served as a fragile but vital alarm system for invisible, deadly gases.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.