eyrie

American  

[air-ee, eer-ee] / ˈɛər i, ˈɪər i /

Or eyry

noun

• eyries
  plural

1. aerie.

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eyrie British  

/ ˈɪərɪ, ˈaɪərɪ, ˈɛərɪ /

noun

1. the nest of an eagle or other bird of prey, built in a high inaccessible place

2. the brood of a bird of prey, esp an eagle

3. any high isolated position or place

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• eyries
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of eyrie

C16: from Medieval Latin airea, from Latin ārea open field, hence nest

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Explanation

An eyrie is the nest of a bird of prey such as an eagle or hawk. Eyries are perched high, in tall trees or on cliffs. You've probably seen a bird's nest or two, but you may not have seen an eyrie. That's because eyries are very high up. Some eyries are in enormous trees, while others are on the sides of cliffs and mountains. This keeps the bird's nest very safe from other animals, but the birds who make eyries are dangerous: hunting birds such as eagles, falcons, and hawks. After killing and eating its prey, an eagle will return to its eyrie.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

eyrie eyries

That changed in April 2023 when unknowing construction workers unceremoniously removed a disintegrating Pinky from its eyrie.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026

In his eyrie on the sixth floor, Crockett tells me that casting for a musical takes about six weeks.

From The Guardian ● May 21, 2013

And my younger eyes loved the view from that eyrie.

From New York Times ● Sep. 14, 2011

After learning of the location of a nest occupied by a family of elusive harpy eagles, film-maker Fergus Beeley set up his own eyrie high in the canopy above the Orinoco rainforest of Venezuela .

From The Guardian ● Jul. 8, 2010

A creature of an older world maybe it was, whose kind, lingering in forgotten mountains cold beneath the Moon, outstayed their day, and in hideous eyrie bred this last untimely brood, apt to evil.

From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien

And while most of the California coast was sprouting pink motels, filling stations, and the cantilevered eyries of the rich, this stretch of Monterey County kept its rugged beauty.

From Time Magazine Archive

Belike, the eagles, from their eyries look down upon us Mardians, in our hives, even as upon the beavers in their dams, marveling at our incomprehensible ways.

From Mardi: and A Voyage Thither, Vol. II by Herman Melville

Gigantic eagles, roused from their eyries, swept with heavy wing from crag to crag, the monarchs of these solitudes.

From Celebrated Women Travellers of the Nineteenth Century by W. H. Davenport Adams

They yelped indignantly at him, and flew off to perch on their eyries and brood over the problem.

From Hoof and Claw by Sir Charles George Douglas Roberts

Those clever old feudal fellows knew well where to build their nests, and like eagles chose bold, wild heights for their rocky eyries.

From One Year Abroad by Blanche Willis Howard

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