wood pewee

American  

Or wood-pewee

noun

1. either of two small North American flycatchers, the western Contopus sordidulus or the eastern C. virens.

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Etymology

Origin of wood pewee

An Americanism dating back to 1800–10

Example Sentences

The idea is cute and corny: eleven songs with themes that take off from the tunes of far-out birds like the purple finch and the wood pewee.

From Time Magazine Archive

“How would you know about a wood pewee in your business?”

From "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George

The flycatchers are well represented in the Park, there being no fewer than five species; the least flycatcher, wood pewee, phœbe, crested flycatcher, and kingbird.

From The Log of the Sun A Chronicle of Nature's Year by Beebe, William

The wood pewee builds a neat, compact socket-shaped nest of moss and lichens on a horizontal branch.

From A Book of Natural History Young Folks' Library Volume XIV. by Jordan, David Starr

Dreamily sitting on a bare twig, the wood pewee is content.

From Some Summer Days in Iowa by Lazell, Frederick John