Bird‧man of Al‧ca‧traz, the /ˌbɜːdmæn əv ˈælkətræz $ ˌbɜːrd-/
a name given to Robert Stroud, a murderer who used his time in prison to learn about birds, especially the canary. In the early 1900s he was put in prison for killing a man in a fight. Then in 1916 he killed a prison guard and was ordered to spend the rest of his life in solitary confinement. He died in prison. A film The Birdman of Alcatraz was made in 1962 with the US actor Burt Lancaster playing the part of Stroud.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲