eyrie
Americannoun
noun
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the nest of an eagle or other bird of prey, built in a high inaccessible place
-
the brood of a bird of prey, esp an eagle
-
any high isolated position or place
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of eyrie
C16: from Medieval Latin airea, from Latin ārea open field, hence nest
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
That changed in April 2023 when unknowing construction workers unceremoniously removed a disintegrating Pinky from its eyrie.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
Roman Abramovich, sitting high in his East Stand eyrie, would certainly have been wondering what had happened to the £130m he invested in the quartet.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 28, 2012
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
Indeed, whatever being uttered that fearful shriek could not soon repeat it: not the widest-winged condor on the Andes could, twice in succession, send out such a yell from the cloud shrouding his eyrie.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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
The victorious eagles of the victorious legions had flown to their eyries forever.
From Historia Amoris: A History of Love, Ancient and Modern by Saltus, Edgar
Their nests, which have received the name of eyries, are not yet masterpieces of architecture, and reveal the beginning of the industry which is pushed so far by other birds.
From The Industries of Animals by Houssay, Frédéric
There, from their eyries, while the world heaved and throbbed below, the kings of men sent forth their eagle thoughts to wing their flight through the ages.
From Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow by Jerome, Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka)
Long years and rain and sunlight have made these castellated eyries one with their native stone.
From Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece, First Series by Brown, Horatio Robert Forbes
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.
