go-away, noun

Forms:
Also go-way, go’way, and with initial capitals.
Origin:
Echoic, see quotations 1897 and 1984.
1. In full go-away bird: the grey loerie (see loerie sense 1 b), Corythaixoides concolor.
1881 E.E. Frewer tr. of E. Holub’s Seven Yrs in S. Afr. I. 289I shot a great grey lory, that from its cry is called the ‘go-away’ by the English, whilst by the Boers it is known as the ‘grote Mausevogel’.
1897 J.P. Fitzpatrick Outspan 55There is a sort of bastard cockatoo in those parts which is commonly known as the ‘Go way’ bird, on account of its cry, which closely resembles these words, and of a habit it is supposed to have of warning game of the approach of man.
1906 Chambers’s Jrnl (U.K.) Mar. 214A pair of rare crested parrots, or ‘go-away birds’, as they are called.
1914 S.P. Hyatt Old Transport Rd 179The Go-away bird warning the game of your approach.
1929 J. Stevenson-Hamilton Low-Veld 96The grey lourie or ‘go-away’ bird, which, with its long tail jerking up and down with the effort, shouts out his warning of approaching danger to all and sundry.
1940 V. Pohl Bushveld Adventures 155Later, when I questioned him about the popular belief that the ‘Go-away’ or ‘Alarm birds’ scare off game, he repled: ‘Go-away bird him talk too much!’
1958 M. Spark Go-Away Bird 74All over the Colony it was possible to hear the subtle voice of the grey-crested lourie, commonly known as the go-away bird by its call, ‘go ’way, go ’way’.
1984 G.L. Maclean Roberts’ Birds of Sn Afr. 325Grey Lourie,...Voice: Loud drawn-out nasal go-’way (hence called Goaway Bird) or kwê.
2. The cry of this bird.
1933 J. Juta Look Out for Ostriches 154From the denser thickets..the Grey Lourie kept uttering its cry of ‘Go away, go away.’
1958 M. Spark Go-Away Bird 74All over the Colony it was possible to hear the subtle voice of the grey-crested lourie, commonly known as the go-away bird by its call, ‘go ’way, go ’way’.
1968 G. Croudace Black Rose 88‘Go’way, go’way.’ The sudden alarm call of the lourie startled her.
1971 Argus 10 Mar.Hunters call the Grey Loerie the go way bird because just after you creep up to your quarry after perhaps hours of spooring, this bird calls out from a tree-top in a coffee grinder voice ‘go way’!
1984 [see sense 1].
In full go-away bird:the grey loerie (see loerie sense 1 b), Corythaixoides concolor.
The cry of this bird.
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