a small passerine bird in the finch family, distributed through Europe, western Asia and northern Africa. It is known for its fondness for hemp and linseed.
But one day, I took a thick cudgel, and threw it with all my strength so luckily, at a linnet, that I knocked him down, and seizing him by the neck with both my hands, ran with him in triumph to my nurse.
Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels Into Several Remote Regions of the World (1726)
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Hyacinth: Listen! I think I hear a linnet!
Major: God! You know just how to inflame a chap!
BBC. Keeping up Appearances: Problems with Relatives (1991)
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a west wind blowing, and bright white clouds flitting rapidly above; and not only larks, but throstles, and blackbirds, and linnets, and cuckoos pouring out music on every side, and the moors seen at a distance, broken into cool dusky dells;
Emily Brontë. Wuthering Heights (1847)
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The sergeant seeing this hooded linnet coming, stuck his headpiece on one side, straightened his feather, twisted his moustache, cleared his throat, rolled his eyes, put his hand on his hips, and stopped the Picardian to see if her ears were properly pierced,