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

Iman would say her husband, secluded in his rooftop eyrie overlooking downtown New York, was always working, that he read the British papers, avidly kept up with the nation’s political news.

From The Guardian ● Jan. 16, 2016

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

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

From their eyries in the towering rock bastions the brown eagles swooped down as though to rend us, uttering wild and menacing cries.

From Lodges in the Wilderness by W. C. (William Charles) Scully

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 Frédéric Houssay

Brief night succeeds the twilight; day dawn soon appears, and the hawks flash from their eyries in the Giralda, and the mule bells begin to jingle in the sunlit streets.

From The Story of Seville by C. Gasquoine (Catherine Gasquoine) Hartley

This manor was at the Conquest “all forest and waste ground,” and was enclosed by one Ughtred, who held of the King “for keeping the eyries of hawks which bred in the Forest of Inglewood.”

From Bygone Cumberland and Westmorland by Daniel Scott

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