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Synonyms

bright-eyed and bushy-tailed

Idioms  

  1. Eager and alert, as in Here is my new kindergarten class, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. The allusion here is to the appearance of a squirrel, which with its beady eyes and bushy tail looks ready for anything. [1930s]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

I do think a lot of times female protagonists have been very young and bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and very plucky.

From Salon • Aug. 12, 2024

Obviously with Marge, you can tell she’s somebody who is kind of bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and finds herself in this place and hasn’t had a lot of experience.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 2, 2024

I think because having someone who’s bright-eyed and bushy-tailed kind of gives her that love for it again.

From Slate • Apr. 19, 2018

Last updated at Boxing can turn the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed into the cynical and contorted, seemingly overnight.

From BBC • Nov. 7, 2013

They were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and they took over.

From The Pirates of Ersatz by Freas, Kelly

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.