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 woodland thrushes' flutes and bells have ceased to breathe and chime, only the wood pewee keeps his pensive song of other days, yet best befitting those of declining summer.

From In New England Fields and Woods by Robinson, Rowland E. (Evans)

A wood warbler, on the contrary, always brings before me the rush and hurry of the world of people, and the wood pewee its under-current of eternal sadness.

From Upon The Tree-Tops by Miller, Olive Thorne

It is only the oriole and the wood pewee that, as a rule, go higher than this.

From Birds and Bees, Sharp Eyes and Other Papers by Burroughs, John