eider
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of eider
1735–45; < Icelandic æthar (in 18th century spelled ædar ), genitive singular of æthur eider duck, in phrase ædar dūnn down of the eider duck; spelling eider < German or Swedish
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.
Another finds nothing common in the common eider, with its cherished but endangered down.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Annual surveys have begun to record steady increases in eider ducks, guillemots, herring gulls and lesser-backed gulls on and around the island, year on year.
From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2025
Newell designed this ungainly Willy Wonka–esque apparatus over decades in a costly process of trial and error that faced—and ultimately overcame—several challenges, including protecting the mussels from turbulent seas and voracious eider ducks.
From Scientific American ● May 7, 2022
Izembek Lagoon holds one of the world’s largest beds of eelgrass, a rich food source for Pacific brant geese, endangered Steller’s eider sea ducks and other migratory birds.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 16, 2022
The flowers were gone; the birds flocked in great clouds, and among them were eider and old squaw ducks that kept to the rivers and beaches except when they migrated south.
From "Julie of the Wolves" by Jean Craighead George
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.
