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mavis [may-vis] noun the song thrush: ‘Get [go away], you unsanctified bird’... ‘Dirty skittery fat mavis. la15-. etymology: Scots; Anglo-Norman mauvis, mauviz, malviz, mavis, maviz, mawisseand; Middle French mauvis, malvis ‘of uncertain origin’; attested by BS in TDITA, JS, BW and DW note:

This bird is thought to be a bird of ill omen and therefore considered unlucky by Travellers. When seen by someone it was thought to foretell the death of someone bearing their name.