What does birdlimed mean?
Birdlimed is the past tense and past participle of the verb birdlime, meaning to catch or coat with birdlime — a sticky substance historically smeared on branches and twigs to trap small birds. A branch so treated was said to be birdlimed, and any bird alighting on it became hopelessly stuck. By extension, the word carries a figurative sense: to be birdlimed is to be entangled or ensnared, whether in debt, bureaucracy, or some other adhesive predicament. The term belongs mainly to older and literary English, appearing frequently in texts on fowling and in metaphorical passages from earlier centuries. Though rare today, it remains vivid and precise, evoking an image of capture through stickiness rather than force, which gives it lasting value for writers seeking an exact word for entrapment.
verbCaught or smeared with birdlime; by extension, trapped or ensnared as if by a sticky substance.
- Smeared or treated with birdlime (a sticky preparation used to catch birds).
- Trapped or ensnared, figuratively or literally, as if by birdlime.
"The poachers' nets, birdlimed along their twigs, held the finches fast."
"The hunter returned at dawn to gather the birds he had birdlimed the evening before."
"By the time he realised the deal was fraudulent, every asset he owned was birdlimed in legal tangles."
Before glue traps, fowlers painted twigs with a goo called birdlime — anything that landed was literally 'birdlimed', stuck fast by its own feet.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of birdlimed
The word combines bird with lime, the latter being an old word for a sticky substance, derived from Old English līm, which also gave rise to the unrelated-sounding but genuinely related word loam. Birdlime itself has been known since Middle English times as a fowler's tool, made traditionally from holly bark boiled into a glutinous paste. The verb form birdlimed thus follows straightforwardly from this compound, with the figurative sense developing alongside the literal practice of liming twigs.
Related word forms
How birdlimed is actually used
Archaic or literary in modern usage; chiefly found in historical writing about fowling and hunting, and in figurative prose describing entanglement. Rarely encountered in everyday speech.
Easily confused with birdlimed
Birdlime is the noun for the sticky substance itself, while 'birdlimed' is the past-tense verb describing having been caught or coated in it.
'Sublimed' means converted directly from solid to vapour in chemistry, whereas 'birdlimed' means caught with sticky lime.