Pur·ple, a.
 1. Exhibiting or possessing the color called purple, much esteemed for its richness and beauty; of a deep red, or red and blue color; as, a purple robe.
 2. Imperial; regal; -- so called from the color having been an emblem of imperial authority.
    Hide in the dust thy purple pride.   --Shelley.
 3. Blood-red; bloody.
    May such purple tears be alway shed.   --Shak.
 I view a field of blood,
 And Tiber rolling with a purple blood.   --Dryden.
 Purple bird Zool., the European purple gallinule. See under Gallinule.
 Purple copper ore. Min. See Bornite.
 Purple grackle Zool., the crow blackbird. See under Crow.
 Purple martin. See under Martin.
 Purple sandpiper. See under Sandpiper.
 Purple shell. See Ianthina.
 Crow, n.
 1. Zool. A bird, usually black, of the genus Corvus, having a strong conical beak, with projecting bristles.  It has a harsh, croaking note. See Caw.
 Note: ☞ The common crow of Europe, or carrion crow, is Corvus corone.  The common American crow is Corvus Americanus. See Carrion crow, and Illustr., under Carrion.
 2. A bar of iron with a beak, crook, or claw; a bar of iron used as a lever; a crowbar.
 Get me an iron crow, and bring it straight
 Unto my cell.   --Shak.
 3. The cry of the cock. See Crow, v. i., 1.
 4. The mesentery of a beast; -- so called by butchers.
 Carrion crow. See under Carrion.
 Crow blackbird Zool., an American bird (Quiscalus quiscula); -- called also purple grackle.
 Crow pheasant Zool., an Indian cuckoo; the common coucal. It is believed by the natives to give omens. See Coucal.
 Crow shrike Zool., any bird of the genera Gymnorhina, Craticus, or Strepera, mostly from Australia.
 Red-legged crow. See Crough.
 As the crow flies, in a direct line.
 To pick a crow, To pluck a crow, to state and adjust a difference or grievance (with any one).
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 purple grackle
      n : eastern United States grackle [syn: Quiscalus quiscula]