Citations:broken bird

Noun: "a bird that is unable to fly due to one or both of its wings being broken"

 * 1982 — Blossom Elfman, The Return of the Whistler, Random House (1982), ISBN 9780449700273, page 32:
 * It swooped down and squawked at its wounded friend, calling the beached bird back to the sea. But the broken bird couldn't fly.
 * 1989 — Stephen Greshman, Demon's Eye, E-Reads (1999), ISBN 075922076X, page 120:
 * "He's a wild bird, Sophie, not a human person. He just needs rest."
 * And so for a week they tended to the broken bird, and each day Maria would consider the misery in that savage god's eyes.
 * 2003 — Krista Beth Driver, But I Want a Casserole: Diary of an Eating Disorder, Xulon Press (2003), ISBN 1591609887, page 233:
 * The lifeguard said he would call animal control and I went back to stand watch over the broken bird.
 * 2005 — Bruce Dorricott, "The Seagull", in The Planter of Souls…and Other Stories, Authors OnLine (2005), ISBN 0755210190, page 50:
 * I kneel on the sand between the dog and the broken bird, looking from one to the other, shaking.

Noun: "(aviation) an unflyable aircraft, particularly one that has been grounded or downed"

 * 1978 — Robert Barbanes, "I Learned About Flying From That: Beating the Odds", Flying, August 1978:
 * We all said it was a miracle that George had gotten the helicopter down without killing himself. Statistics said it was impossible. And that's one thing I've learned — sometimes you can't trust the statistics.
 * Halfway to the car, George turned and looked at the broken bird.
 * 1991 — Walter Boyne, Eagles At War, Crown Publishers (1991), ISBN 9780517576106, page 181:
 * Landing fast, the plane had sprayed a rooster-tail cloud of snow before lurching to a stop, just one more broken bird on an airfield headed toward disaster.
 * 1999 — Peter J. Azzole, Hell to Pay, iUniverse (1999), ISBN 1583487026, page 58:
 * He threw off his helmet, released himself from the belts, straps, hoses and wires and climbed down from the broken bird.
 * 1999 — Tom Clancy, Carrier: A Guided Tour of an Aircraft Carrier, Berkley (1999), ISBN 9780425166826, page 266:
 * By this time thoroughly soaked, we descended back to the O-2 level and the ATO office, while flight deck crews cleared the broken bird from the deck and started up the next flight event.
 * 2001 — Ron Alexander & Charles W. Sasser, Taking Fire: The True Story of a Decorated Chopper Pilot, St. Martin's Press (2002), ISBN 0312980175, chapter 35:
 * George came out and stood next to me, clearly worried, as a crew rigged lines to his broken bird.
 * 2009 — Raymond L. Ledesma, Corsair, AuthorHouse (2009), ISBN 9781449045050, page 128:
 * The right wing had been torn my [sic] off at impact and was laying about forty yards to the read of the broken bird.
 * 2010 — Jay A. Stout, The Men Who Killed the Luftwaffe: The U.S. Army Air Forces against Germany in World War II, Stackpole Books (2010), ISBN 9780811706599, page 299:
 * Willsie took a desperation shot at the overshooting fighter as he simultaneously wrestled with his broken bird.
 * 2011 — Joby Warrick, The Triple Agent: The Al-Qaeda Mole Who Infiltrated the CIA, Doubleday (2011), ISBN 9780385534185, page 209:
 * Within minutes, the SEALs were safely in their choppers — a third one had been dispatched to replace the broken bird — carrying with them a large cache of computer equipment taken from the compound, as well as bin Laden's bloodied corpse.

Noun: "(figuratively) a troubled or emotionally fragile person, especially one suffering the aftereffects of a personal trauma"

 * 1995 — Beverly Bird, A Man Without Love, Silhouette Books (1995), ISBN 9780373653560, page 220:
 * Because for all those times I thought she was a broken bird, I was the one who was really a coward.
 * 1996 — David Curzon, The View from Jacob's Ladder: One Hundred Midrashim, The Jewish Publication Society (1996), ISBN 9780827605688, page 93:
 * He was shunned by the entire community, and died shortly after, a broken bird.
 * 2001 —Om Prakash Budholia, Anita Desai: Vision and Technique in Her Novels, B. R. Publishing Corporation (2001), ISBN 9788176461931, page 32:
 * As a "broken bird", she goes through the experience of negligence and outlandishness because of her unfulfilled womanhood.
 * 2002 — J. A. Jance, Partner in Crime, Harper (2010), ISBN 9780061961717, page 352:
 * No wonder the Anne I had known had been so terribly damaged and hurt. She had been another incredibly beautiful but broken bird.
 * 2009 — Christine Arylo, Choosing ME Before WE: Everyone Woman's Guide to Life and Love, New World Library (2009), ISBN 9781577316411, page xix:
 * The reality was that, although I accepted the wake-up call, I was still a broken bird with twisted wings and a sad, sad heart.
 * 2010 — Ann Red, Weightless Being: A Spiritual Guide to Weight, A-Argus Better Book Publishers (2010), ISBN 9780984634804, page 47:
 * The "Summer of Dawn" may have forever changed my life from one of innocent trust to shattered confidence, but I was not the only broken bird.