Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
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

While some of us may be going into 2024 bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, Trump’s legal team seems to have spent the first week of the new year hunkered down with court filings.

From Slate • Jan. 8, 2024

Connie Constance is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as she strolls into the BBC News offices.

From BBC • Mar. 28, 2019

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.