"rookery" means: A colony of breeding birds or other animals.. This is a fairly neutral word with no inherent risk attached. There is no real cause for parental concern; it is descriptive vocabulary rather than something dangerous. If your child uses it, context will usually make the meaning clear. A brief, curious question about where they heard it is generally enough to know whether to follow up.
rookery
A colony of breeding birds or other animals.
Definitions
UK
#1·Apr 27, 2026UK
A colony of breeding birds or other animals.
In winter rooks roost together in large numbers, and the roost may or may not be a rookery, but almost daily the local residents pay visits to the nesting trees, and about this time often begin playing at nest-building.
For parents
"rookery" means: A colony of breeding birds or other animals.. This is a fairly neutral word with no inherent risk attached. There is no real cause for parental concern; it is descriptive vocabulary rather than something dangerous. If your child uses it, context will usually make the meaning clear. A brief, curious question about where they heard it is generally enough to know whether to follow up.
For ESL learners
"rookery" means: A colony of breeding birds or other animals.. Register: neutral, standard English, usable in most everyday contexts. A common non-native mistake is to use the word in the wrong register, or to assume one fixed meaning when it is actually polysemous; always check the surrounding register and the audience before producing it yourself. In formal writing, prefer a neutral synonym or a short descriptive phrase, and use this word only when you have heard or read it being used naturally in a comparable context.
Heard in the wild
“Nesting season drama at Smith Oaks. 🪶🥊 📍 @houstonaudubon Smith Oaks Rookery, High Island, TX 🗓️ Apr 17, 2026 | 🕒 2:22 PM 📸 @canonusa EOS R6 Mark III + RF 200-800 + 1.4x ⚙️ 560mm | f/10 | 1/200 | ISO 4150 #RoseateSpoonbill #SmithOaks #BirdBehavior #ShotOnCanon #WildlifeWithCanon”
— Bluesky· May 2026
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UK
#2·Apr 27, 2026UK
(British, historical, by extension) A place where criminals congregate, often an area of a town or city.
Spying flames vomiting from a Manhattan tenement one night last week, a scavenging junkman named Roderick Good turned in an alarm. In their beds in the five-story rookery lay more than 100 tenants.
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UK
#3·Apr 27, 2026UK
(by extension) A crowded tenement.
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For specific readers
Why is this section here?
Slang is read by different audiences for very different reasons. The For parents view re-explains the term in plain, non-judgemental language so a caregiver can understand what their child means without needing the surrounding subculture. The For English learners view focuses on register (when it's safe to use), formal alternatives, and common mistakes — what a textbook won't teach you.
Used in
UK
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🇬🇧About British & Irish slang slang
UK and Irish slang — Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, Glaswegian, Brummie, Welsh, West Country, plus Irish English. Centuries of regional dialects feeding into modern British and Irish street talk.
See all British & Irish slang slang on Slangora.
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Other words near "rookery" (R)
Browse all slang words starting with R.