sparrow

The house sparrow, Passer domesticus; a small bird with a short bill, and brown, white and gray feathers.

Man progresses generally, not both legs at once like a sparrow, but by putting one leg forward first, and then the other.

In a poem by Sappho, Aphrodite is represented as riding in a car drawn by sparrows.

A member of the family Passeridae, comprising small Old World songbirds.

A member of the family Passerellidae (or Emberizidae, under classification systems that subsume the New World sparrows under Emberizidae), comprising small New World songbirds.

Generically, any small, nondescript bird.

A quick-witted, lively person.

cockney sparrow

I take it there 's scarcely a happier fellow alive than your honest town-bred smoke-dried cockney sparrow.

A surname.