canary

Definitions

• A small, usually yellow, finch (genus Serinus), a songbird native to the Canary Islands.
• Any of various small birds of different countries, most of which are largely yellow in colour.
• A light, slightly greenish, yellow colour.
• (countable) A light, sweet, white wine from the Canary Islands.
• A lively dance, possibly of Spanish origin (also called canaries).
• Any test subject, especially an inadvertent or unwilling one. (From the mining practice of using canaries to detect dangerous gases.)
• (computing) A value placed in memory such that it will be the first data corrupted by a buffer overflow, allowing the program to identify and recover from it.
• (informal) A female singer, soprano, a coloratura singer.
• (slang) An informer or snitch; a squealer.
• (slang) A (usually yellow) capsule of the short-acting barbiturate pentobarbital/pentobarbitone (Nembutal).
• (Australia) A yellow sticker of unroadworthiness.